vampiric tendencies
by sum nox
Summary: [COMPLETE]Harry is a vampire-hybrid, and so far his life hasn't changed much, until someone finds out about his secret. Soon, strange things start to happen, taking Harry to a place that only the dead should travel to. DH slash.
1. Secrets Uncovered

Chapter 1

"Malfoy! Psst! Malfoy!" Harry called from an empty storage closet.

Draco turned to look at whoever had spoken his name. "Potter?"

"Yeah. Can you come in here please? I need to talk to you... And it will be bad for both our reputations if I'm caught talking almost civilly to you. Now get in here!" whispered Harry urgently.

Draco looked uncertain, but went into the storage closet.

"What do you know about vampires?" Harry asked immediately.

Draco's dumbfounded look almost made Harry laugh, but he kept his face serious somehow. "Um, well... Mother is a vampire slayer, and she taught me a lot about them. Mainly that you have to stab them through the heart and then use avada kedavra to kill them. She's teaching me to become a slayer too," He boasted, then said, "why do you need to know about vampires? Because just for the record, I'm not helping you in any assignments. No matter what you do."

Harry looked nervous. "You're a slayer?"

"In training, but yeah, essentially, why? Do you want to be a slayer? If so, tough!" Draco laughed his, I-am-superior laugh, but quited down when he saw Harry get even more nervous.

"Would you really kill a vampire?"

"Yeah. That's what slayers do. They kill vampires," Draco said patronizingly.

"I know that, but if someone you know at this school was turned into a vampire, would you kill them? Say that they didn't kill anybody, they just lived off of rats or something, would you kill them?" Harry asked.

"Depends on who they are, I wouldn't kill Blaise if he turned into a vampire and lived off of vermine. But say you turned into a vampire, I would kill you without a second thought," Draco said, and laughed lightly, as if it were a joke. He didn't miss how the color drained from Harry's face.

"Oh. O-okay then... I'll just be going. Thanks for the - ah- information," Harry said, before attempting to scuttle out of the room. Draco put out a hand, stopping Harry from leaving.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" He asked mischeviously.

"G-gotta s-study with H-hermione," Harry stuttered.

"Why don't you stay for a while?" Draco asked in that falsly polite voice he used every now and then. Harry took a step back as Draco pulled a knife from his robes.

"D-didn't know you were allowed to h-have those on school campus," Harry said, staring at the knife.

Draco shrugged, "I'm a slayer in training, so I get special treatment. Now, why so nervous all of a sudden?"

"I'm not nervous. I was just surprised. I thought your family had some kind of connection to vampires, I just didn't know how. Can I leave now?" Harry asked, keeping his voice steady.

"Just one second," Draco said, whiping the knife over the skin on Harry's arm faster than Harry thought the blond could move. Then the relization dawned on Harry just what Draco was doing.

"Oops. My bad, let me see your arm Potter," Draco smirked. Harry clutched at where the wound should be, knowing it had already healed. If Draco saw that, he would _know_ Harry was a vampire.

"I _said_ let me see your arm!" Draco said impatiently, and grabbed Harry's arm, showing flawless skin, even though there should be a cut.

Draco nodded, "thought so."

Harry leaned against the wall, and slid down into a sitting positon, burying his head in his hands.

"I'm not going to kill you Potter. I'm only in training," Draco sniggered. Harry looked up, and to Malfoy's surprise hadn't been crying, just thinking.

"I know that you eejit. You couldn't kill me, I'm too fast for you, and too powerful too. You just weren't suppose to find out. Nobody is suppose to find out," Harry went back to burying his head in his hands.

Draco looked down on him and wondered, "What's it like?"

Harry looked up stunned. That was the last thing he had expected Draco to say.

"What do you mean?"

"What's it like to be a vampire? What can you do?"

"I thought you were a slayer in training. Don't you already know what I can do?" Harry asked, confused.

"Yeah, but I want you to show me. You said that you were too fast and too powerful for me to kill you. Show me. We'll fight. The way muggles fight, no magic, and we'll see who's faster," Draco said. Harry just shrugged and nodded that he would do it.

Harry stood up, and they both walked to opposite sides of the room.

"On my count," Yelled Draco, "One! Two!"

And then he charged. Harry side stepped him easily, tripping the blond as he did so.

"Give up?" Harry said casually to Draco, who was lying on the floor.

"Not yet," He replied, jumping up, trying to grab Harry by the waist, to bring him down.

Again, Harry stepped to one side, allowing Draco to fall, but grabbed him by the collar of his robes on the way down, keeping him from hitting the floor. Harry yawned, "Have I proved I'm faster than you yet?"

"Nope, not yet," Draco was determind now. He would knock the obnoxcious boy over before he left this room.

"Just checking," Harry laughed as he tugged on Draco's robes, bringing the blond to his feet. Draco swung at the boy, but ended up with his fist held by Harry's hand, stopped in mid air. He swung again with his left, but that punch was also caught. Before he had the chance to kick at the annoying Boy-Who-Lived, Harry spun him around, so that Draco's arms were crossed in an 'X' over his chest and his back was against Harry's chest. He could feel the vampire breathing, but not hard. He was breathing as if he was reading a book or watching TV.

Draco brought his foot up in an attempt to stomp on Harry's foot, but found that the vampire was expecting this. Harry brought up one of his own feet, hooked Draco's raised foot, and tripped him. Harry landed on top of Draco, pinning down all useful limbs. Draco was about to admit defeat that yes, Harry _was _faster than him, when he felt the vampires lips on his neck, and the fangs lightly touch his skin. Draco went rigid, and his heart began to beat faster. Then he felt Harry's lips move against the skin of his neck, whispering.

"You need more practice, Slayer. A vampire could easily have you for a snack, and _I_ was being easy on you." Then Harry pushed off of Draco, standing up. He smiled down at the boy laying on the floor, and Draco let out a low growl.

"Alright, so you're a bit faster, no need to rub it in!" Draco yelled, exasperated.

"Betcha I'm more powerful, too," Harry muttered, walking towards the door.

"Not so fast! Get back here Potter, you haven't _proved_ that you're better at magic than me!" Draco yelled at the Gryffindor.

Harry sighed, "Gods, Malfoy, give it a rest! I'm faster than you and I'm more powerful, just get used to it! I'm a vampire! I'm just naturally more powerful than you!"

"Prove it," Draco challenged, taking out his wand.

Harry gave a sigh and walked over to face Draco.

"Where's your wand?" Draco asked.

"I won't be needing it," Harry answered, and half smiled.

Draco couldn't help but laugh, "You can do wandless magic? I'll believe it when I see it!"

"Well then, you'll believe it in about three seconds. One! Two! Thr-"

As usual, Draco let his first spell go before Harry finished the count. Holding out his hand, Harry caught the spell. The light the spell caused faded until it was gone, Draco looked at the raven haired boy in disbelief.

Harry extended his arm, and Draco's wand flew into his hand, he cast it aside. Against his will, Draco's arms moved back, and felt like they were being tied behind his back. His ankles were also bound, even though he could see no ropes holding them there.

Harry smiled, "Please. Take a seat."

As he said 'seat', he made a lowering motion with his hand, and Draco sunk to the floor, glaring daggers at Harry.

"There, have I proved that I can beat you in a muggle fight, _and_ a wizard duel?" Harry asked.

Draco just growled in responce.

"I see. Well, you'll need more training if you're going to be a slayer. The way you're going right now you'll be a really nice appetizer for a vampire, and I've heard that wizard blood is better than any other type of blood. Then again, I wouldn't know, I've been living off of rats." Harry made a face.

"I'll get better at slaying, you'll see, I'll show you, I'll be able to beat you in any fight you want! Just wait a month or two," Draco said. He didn't like to be beaten at anything, especially duels.

Harry just waved his hand and whatever had been binding Draco disappeared. Malfoy immediately sprung up, and tried to tackle Harry as he was walking out of the door. Harry turned around and glared at him, stopping Draco in his tracks.

"How'd you know what I was doing?" He asked confused. In theory it should have worked, Harry's back was to him, and he was moving quietly enough to sneak up on anyone.

"You walk too loud," Harry replied simply, and walked out of the door.

"Potter, wait!" Draco called. Harry sighed and turned around.

"_You_ teach me how to be a slayer than, if you're so skilled at everything."

"Doesn't that seem a little wrong to you? A vampire teaching someone to kill vampires. I don't think so," Harry answered, and turned to go again.

"I don't think you have much of a choice, Potter. You teach me how to be a slayer, or everyone knows you're a vampire. It's that simple," Draco had the distinct expression that he'd won. And he had.

"You're impossible, you know that? I can't believe you're blackmailing a vampire! I could kill you in three seconds and be rid of the problem you're presenting, you know that?"

"Of course I know that. But I also know that you're Harry Potter and wouldn't hurt a fly unless that fly was He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. So do we have a deal?" Draco asked.

Harry just nodded his head in the "I'm a condemned man" way.

"Meet me back here tomorrow at 9 pm. Don't try to skip out, because it's really easy for me to accidentally slip and tell somebody your little... secret." Draco smiled.

Harry sighed again, "I hate you. 9 pm. Okay."

And Harry walked out of the room, very, very happy he did not hear his name again.


	2. An Unfair Advantage

"Today you will be learning about the Vampire," Said Sirius, the DADA teacher. Sirius' name had been cleared at the beginning of the year, and he had been offered the job as the new DADA teacher. Snape was, to say the least, furious that his ancient rival had gotten the job that he had wanted for... well... a very, very, long time.

Harry stared on coolly as Sirius began to talk about vampires. Draco kept glancing over at him, and noticed that he hadn't let anyone know that he was a vampire. It was very un-Potterish to not be nervous. He was almost always fidgetty when he got unconfortable, but apparently Sirius knew that Harry was a vampire, and had warned him about this lesson.

"Can anyone tell me what they know about vampires?" Sirius questioned.

Harry timidly raised his hand, earning strange looks. "Harry, why don't you share something."

"Um, well... vampires aren't as evil as many people are led to believe. They have to live off of human blood, or drink a large amount of something else's blood. For example, one human probably equals around three dogs, four to five cats, and anywhere from ten to fifteen rats. Blood banks have started to donate blood to vampires once they were made legal about ten years ago. Very few vampires are still alive, due to their massive slaughter by people who believed they were vile creatures. They can walk in the sun, it doesn't hurt them at all, and they behave basically like normal people and wizards except that they are faster, stronger, better with magic, live off of blood, and live forever. Unless killed, which is hard to do, but possible. Also, they _can_ make other vampires, but it is a very dangerous process and there is a 45 chance that the Sire of the new vampire will die. The most common way for a vampire to appear in the world is actually by birth, because, yes, vampires can have children," Harry said, gaining confidence as he continued with his answer.

"Good! Ten points to Gryffindor," Sirius said, smiling.

Draco stared at Harry, wondering why he went on about vampires. You'd think he would try to keep a low profile. Actually, I guess he doesn't try to keep a low profile, he always has to go and get himself almost killed.

_I wonder how he **became** a vampire. I'll have to ask him..._ thought Draco.

Meanwhile, Hermione was staring at Harry as if he'd grown another head.

"How'd _you_ know all that stuff, Harry? I mean, no offense and all, but your not know for your studying habits!"

"I'll tell you later. I'll tell Ron, too," Harry whispered back to her, waiting to hear the rest of Sirius' lecture.

"I've been informed that Mr. Malfoy is training to become a slayer. Would you mind sharing any information about the practice of a slayer?" Sirius inquired.

"Well, vampires were made legal about ten years ago, like Potter said. Which should have put slayers out of business, but there were laws set up for the vampire community. Number one being that the murder of any human or wizard would result in death. The breaking of almost any of the major laws for a vampire result in death, and that's where slayers come in. They track down the offending vampire and kill him or her. Slayer's must be very skilled at what they do, because vampires are very cunning creatures, and are hard to take down," Draco said matter-of-factly. He thought he heard Harry snort, but couldn't tell for sure.

"Do you fight with magic, or do you use more muggle style fighting skills?" Sirius asked.

"Both, actually. The only way to kill a vampire is to stake it through the heart, with anything, really, as long as it peirces the heart, and use the killing curse on him or her. So you have to be very strong, quick, and silent, to be able to stake one."

Sirius nodded. "How far in your training have you come?"

"I've been training for years, ever since I was five, so I've had a long time to practice. I can already beat anyone in a fight, pin them at least. Even Crabbe and Goyle," Draco boasted.

"Would you mind showing us how to pin someone?" Sirius asked. Draco nodded, showing basic manuevers to bring someone to the ground, and how to pin them.

"Alright, let's pair up, and try out what Mr. Malfoy has just shown us. Ron, you'll be with Mr. Malfoy, Hermione, you'll be with Mr. Crabbe, and Harry, you'll be with Mr. Goyle..." Sirius began to pair everyone up.

Twenty five minutes later, everyone had pinned their partner, except for Goyle. He was having a hard time even _touching_ Harry, let alone _pin _him. Soon, Goyle was too tired to move, and collapsed on the spot, breathing heavily, and glaring at Harry, who smiled sweetly at him, laughing lightly.

"Wow, Harry, very good! You've really gotten the hang of dodging. Mr. Malfoy, will you please show Goyle how to pin Mr. Potter. Seeing as you're the trained slayer, I'm sure you won't have a problem," Sirius smiled at Draco, and Malfoy knew that Proffessor Black was pretty sure nobody could pin Harry. Which was exactly why he was going to make Draco try it.

"Sure professor," Draco said, nonchalantly, walking over to the smiling Gryffindor.

"Hello, Malfoy," Harry said pleasantly. He wasn't even sweating, just standing there, while Goyle had dragged himself to a seat and fell asleep.

Draco lunged at his opponent, going for his arms. If he could grab both wrists, he could easily tip him off balance, and a swift kick in the back of his knees would bring him down. Unfortunately, it didn't work that way.

Harry moved to one side (it seemed to be his favorite maneuver in a fight) and stuck out his foot, tripping Draco. Draco fell, as Harry had expected he would, flat on his face, Harry immediately pinned his legs and arms.

Then he looked up at the Ron and said, "I think the slayer needs some more practice."

Draco just growled, too embarassed to look up at anyone.

"Get off me, Potter," He mumbled, throwing the vampire off of him. Harry got to his feet with ease, and, to Draco's surprise, helped the other boy up.

They both shook hands, and Harry pulled the other boy close, whispering so no one could hear, "If you didn't think so loud, you might have actually pinned me."

Draco just looked at him, while Harry walked away to join his friends. _So he can read thoughts. THAT'S AN UNFAIR ADVANTAGE! _


	3. First Lesson

"Wow, you're actually on time," Draco commented.

"Of course I'm on time, I couldn't wait to beat you again. It's really fun to see that expression of disbelief on your face when you lose. Really hilarious, actually," Harry smirked.

Draco chose to ignore that comment. "Okay, what do I learn first?"

"To hide your thoughts. I could hear everything you planned to do, which is why it made it so easy to dodge your attack."

"_Alright_. How do I block my thoughts?" Draco asked. Out of all his years of slayer training he had never learned to block out thoughts.

"It's quite simple, actually. Just imagine a wall. That's the most basic way to block out thoughts. You think of a brick wall up in your mind, blocking off your thoughts. Of course, it's very hard to keep imagining a wall in your mind if your fighting, but since it's the most basic form of blocking out intruders from your mind, we'll practice that," Harry said. Draco did as he was told, imagining a brick wall.

While he thought of the wall, he began to put up some grafitti with it. He was having fun with this.

"Well, good job, except I've never seen anyone put up a mental wall with grafitti on it before," Harry laughed, and Draco looked shocked.

"I thought you couldn't read my mind when I put up the wall!"

"I can't. The reason the wall technique works is because you can see the wall, but not what's behind it. What did you write up on your wall anyway, I just saw the grafitti."

Draco shrugged, "Just random words."

"Alright, well, since you managed that, the second way to keep your thoughts away from those of us who can read them is simply think quietly. When fighting, vampires don't purposely try to read peoples minds, it's just when someone thinks, you naturally think 'loudly'. Basically, it's like telling your opponent what you're going to do. So think quietly. That only works in a fight. The only way to truly block someone out of your mind is to A) learn occlumency, which I can't teach you, seeing as I always skipped classes. Or B) get a potion to block out intruders. That's all I can say," Harry shrugged.

"I'll learn occlumency then. I'm sure Snape will teach me," Draco said enthusiastically. Harry mumbled something, but Draco didn't catch it.

"Here you go, I want to see how you fight when I can't read your thoughts," Harry said, holding out a glass of liquid.

"What s this?"

"A potion, so that I can't read your thoughts," replied Harry, as if everyone should know what it is.

Draco downed the glass, and took up a stance so that he could attack Harry. He lunged, but Harry held out his hand, and Draco found himself suspended in mid-air.

Harry put his hand down, and Draco fell to the ground.

He scrambled up and glared at Harry angrily, "That wasn't fair! It's a muggle fight! No magic!"

"I thought you said you wanted to be a Slayer. Vampires don't fight fair, especially if their life is at stake," Harry replied nonchalantly.

Draco's anger went out like a light as the full potential of what Harry had just said struck him. "I actually _kill_ vampires when I'm a Slayer, huh?"

"No, Malfoy! You invite them over for tea and cakes, then wish them the best of luck in their eternal lives. OF COURSE YOU KILL THEM YOU TWIT!" Harry yelled.

Draco flinched, then remembered what he had wanted to ask Harry previously, "How did you become a vampire?"

Harry looked taken aback, then answered, "That's not important to the lesson, now, I'm going to begin to teach you wandless magic. You have to be very good at magic to be able to preform any spells, so I just hope you have an O in all your classes..."

"Yes, I'll have you know I _do_ have an O in all of my classes, and that I can preform some simple spells without a wand," Draco said, puffing up slightly as if he had acheived the impossible.

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. "Alright, well good. That will make teaching you a little easier, now-"

Draco cut him off, "Tell me how you became a vampire!"

"No, I don't want to," Harry whined, sounding about five years old.

"Well if you don't, I'll tell everyone about what you are," Draco taunted. Harry looked at him, and was very tempted to cast an unforgivable curse on him, but refrained from doing so.

"I'm a vampire hybrid. My dad was a vampire, but my mom wasn't. Which is why I only need to drink from three rats every month, while other vampires have to drink from a human once a month. Are you happy now?"

"So basically you can do everything a vampire can do, but you need less blood to do it?" Draco asked.

Harry nodded his head. "Can we get back to the lesson? Unless, of course, you want to call it a night." Harry looked hopeful.

"No, teach me some wandless magic," Draco ordered.

Harry sighed and began his lesson.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who's reviewed!


	4. Don't Think So Loud!

"Malfoy! Give it a rest! It's one in the _morning_ for fucks sake!" Harry was yelling at his rival.

"Hang on! I've almost got wingardium leviosa down!" Draco said, using wandless magic to move a little rubber ball. "Plus, you're a vampire, you stay up all night anyway!"

"NO! I most certainly do _not_! I go to sleep every night, just like everyone else!" Harry pouted.

"Oh give it a rest! Go to sleep in the corner of the room or something! I'll wake you up if I need you," Draco said, still concentrating on the ball.

"Fine! I think I will!" Harry retorted, and amazingly, he did.

Draco watched in amazement as Harry curled up like a cat, closed his eyes, and promptly fell asleep. Draco shrugged and turned back to the ball he was trying to levitate.

So far the only thing he had gotten the ball to do was shake a bit and then fall still again.

_FINE! You stupid ball! I'll make you float if it's the last thing I do! Which it won't be, of course. I'm destined to live a very long and very happy life_ Draco thought, when suddenly his arms were pinned at his side and fangs were at his throat.

"Second lesson," Harry said, his lips moving against Draco's skin. "Don't be sure of anything. I could kill you right now if I wanted to. And what did I tell you about thinking loud! Wait until I'm at least in a _deep_ sleep before you go shouting out your thoughts!"

"Fine, I'll think quietly! Geez! Someone woke up on the wrong side of the cold stone floor," Draco scoffed.

Harry growled, but released Draco so that he could go back to his 'lesson' and Harry could go back to sleep.

_He is so annoying! Too bad he's the only one that can teach me about being a slayer. Well, besides Mother, but she's having a hard time remembering anything, since Father is gone so much. _Then a thought occured to Draco. Another way to kill a vampire, although it wasn't always sure fire, was to kill that vampire's mate. _So who's Harry's mate? He has to have one, he's part vampire. _

Harry groaned and rolled over in his sleep. _Must be thinking too loud again. Gods, he is so sensitive to what people are thinking! Why doesn't he just keep to himself, instead of prying into people's thoughts! _

_It's not like he has a choice _another part of his brain answered, and Draco had to agree, although he did so grudgingly.

About an hour later Harry woke up to see Draco staring at him intently.

"What? Hey, why are you still here? I would have thought you'd have gotten that ball to move by now," Harry said. Draco thought it was amazing that Harry didn't act like he had just been woken up, he was talking as if he had been awake and it was the middle of the day. Draco was a bit confused by this, but answered Harry's question.

"Yeah, I moved the damned ball. It was hard though. I'll need more practice. Of course, when I was about to leave, I saw you, and it looked like you were going through quite the punishment in your twisted little mind. So tell me, what were you dreaming about?"

Harry looked confused, "It probably had to do with Voldemort, because unless he sends me a dream, or I see what he's up to, I don't have dreams. I don't think it's possible for vampires to dream. But I don't remember dreaming... Of course, if I don't remember, it probably had to do with my mate..."

Draco perked up, "Who's your mate?"

Harry shrugged, "I dunno. I'm only part vampire. I get to choose my mate, instead of him or her already being picked out for me. Well, actually. A few vampire hybrids have pre-picked mates. But, if I get to choose my mate, I can't unchoose them. I'm stuck with them forever, even if they die, which would be rather hard seeing as I would make them a vampire... well... maybe... if they wanted me to, and if I didn't die in the process."

"That's cool. Sounds like being a vampire hybrid is a lot better than being a vampire!"

"Yeah, in some ways. Of course, we can be killed a whole heck of a lot easier than vampires, which is why we're more cautious. That's why I'm more sensitive to thoughts, sounds, sights, and I can move a lot faster, and I'm a bit stronger than your average vampire."

"You're easier to kill?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, bet I made your day, huh?" Harry replied.

"No, I was just making sure that was what you said... "

"Sure," came the sarcastic retort. "Well, if you're quite done, then I will be going back to my dorm. Bye."

"Wait, if you can see better, how come you wear glasses?" Draco asked, confused.

"Because my sight and hearing was only perfected after my inherentence. And I think it would raise some questions from my muggle family if I suddenly stopped wearing glasses." _Then again, they don't pay enough attention to me to notice that I didn't have any on. _Harry thought, but kept his musings to himself.

"Oh. Okay... Well, tomorrow, same place, same time, Harry," Draco called. _Ack! Did I just call him Harry?Alright, that's the last time **I** stay up until __two thirty a.m!_


	5. The Pheonix

I love food! I don't like breakfast too much... But lunch and dinner? Man, I love meals!" Ron was going on and on about how much he loved food and how it was one of the best things ever and how he could eat almost anything... It was annoying.

Besides Ron's constant rambling, nothing much was happening during breakfast. Harry could feel eyes boring into him all through breakfast, thanks to his vampire senses; he could tell when someone was staring at him. Harry slowly turned around and glared at the silver eyes that met his. Draco's eyes widened as he found himself caught staring. Harry smirked, and turned back around, flicking Draco off over his shoulder nonchalantly.

Malfoy _had_ to chuckle... It just didn't seem like Harry to flick someone off... Then again, since his inheritance Harry had been more daring (more than he already was, anyway) and more intense. In everything. Whether it was performing a spell, talking to someone, flying on his broom... anything... there just seemed to be this _way_ that he did everything, saying that there was more to him than you would ever figure out... and somehow that was okay. Almost.

Draco had gone back to staring at the Gryffindor boy when Blaise poked him on the shoulder.

"Why are you staring so much?" He whispered in Draco's ear. "You wouldn't happen to be staring at Hogwarts' own vampire half-breed, would you?"

Draco was surprised, "How do you know about that?"

Blaise just shrugged, "I figured it out on my own... He never told me, if that's what you're thinking. He still doesn't know that I know. See, I saw him by the womping willow one time, and a branch came down on him, and he saw it and dove out of the way. The branch got his leg and it was completely mutilated, until it started to mend itself. I figured there was only a few ways that could happen... If he were a vampire, because he does resemble one a bit... a veela, but I crossed that off, because he doesn't really look like a veela in the slightest... or he was very very skilled in healing... but I crossed that off because you have to train for a long while in healing, so he would have healed himself when he got scraped up before. Therefore he must by a vampire. Or a vampire hybrid. I decided on the hybrid... and you just confirmed my assumptions... But the question now is... How do _you_ know?"

Draco had to admit. Blaise was smart.

Draco shrugged, "He was researching vampires one time when I saw him in the library, and then I over-heard him tell the Weasel and Mudblood about it one time," Draco lied. If there was one thing Draco was good at, it was lying.

Blaise looked at Draco skeptically, but accepted the explanation.

"So what are you doing with this piece of information you've gathered?" Blaise inquired

"What do you mean?"

"You're a Slytherin, and Potter is your long time rival! Knowing you, you aren't just going to let this piece of information slide by and do nothing with it! Come on! You're going to resort to blackmail or something!"

Draco smirked, "Of course I'm using this wonderful piece of knowledge to my advantage! I just prefer not to say how, exactly."

Blaise pretended to pout, "Please tell me! Pretty please? Please please please please please?"

In a disgusted voice, Draco said, "Blaise! Control yourself! You're a Slytherin! Slytherins don't beg! Now, if you wanted to grovel before me, I think that might be acceptable but..."

Blaise just glared at the blonde.

That's when the idea struck Draco, "What are you doing with the information you've acquired?"

"Hm? Me? Nothing, I guess, just being able to hold it over his head will be enough,"

Draco looked at Blaise distrust evident in his eyes, but he let it pass.

"Well Draco dearest, I really must be going, I have to go do research for the potions essay Snape gave us," Blaise said, standing up.

"Blaise! That assignment is due today!"

"I know, that's why I have to do research, ta ta!" Blaise said, ruffling Draco's hair and walking out of the great hall. Draco growled, un-mussing his hair and cursing Blaise under his breath.

Just as Blaise left, the owl post came. Draco looked up and gaped, along with everyone else in the Great Hall, as a phoenix swooped down towards the Gryffindor table, landing in front of a very stunned Harry Potter.

Draco promptly shut his mouth (Malfoy's don't gape) but continued to stare at the magnificent bird and Potter. Harry was laughing and talking to the bird, who was staring at him intently as if it understood everything it was being told.

Harry took the package from the bird's talons, fed it a piece of bacon, and laughed as it pecked at his fingers lovingly and then flew off.

Harry opened the package, and by now the whole Hall was silent and staring intently at Harry and the package he was holding in his hands.

Harry glanced up and instantly people averted their eyes and resumed normal conversation, until the Golden Boy moved his attention back to the parcel, then the hall fell silent again.

As soon as the package was opened, a snake slowly uncurled itself and slithered lethargically out of the box and stared at Harry until it began to hiss something

Harry listened, and then began to frown, his frown deepened as the snake continued to talk. At one point, Harry hissed something back, but whatever the snake answered with made him furrow his brow in confusion.

The entire hall was silent as the grave, and most of the people were leaning towards Harry and the snake, trying to make sense of what was happening.

When the snake stopped talking Harry nodded his head, picked the snake up, abruptly stood, and walked briskly out of the great hall. As soon as he was gone the entire room burst into loud conversation and speculation about what the snake could have been saying. Draco looked at the Weasel and the Mudblood, but they looked just as confused as everyone else. He looked up to the headmaster, who had that annoying twinkle in his eyes, and was smiling slightly.

Draco frowned in confusion, then got up and followed Harry.


	6. Not a Hybrid?

In the library, Blaise was patting himself on the back for a job well done... He'd get Harry back eventually. This was just the beginning.

* * *

Harry ran aimlessly through the corridors of Hogwarts... Bits and pieces of the conversation he'd just had with Dumbledore ran through his head, (_Harry, I'm sorry about this... we didn't realize the gravity of the situation._). He didn't realize until he arrived at the room of requirements, that that was where he had been headed the entire time. He ran in, not even thinking of what he wanted the room to look like when he burst in... apparently some part of his mind had been dwelling on vampires, though (and with good reason, after the talk he'd had with Dumbledore), because when he entered the room of requirements, he noticed book shelves lined with movies and DVD's and book upon book of vampire stories. Perhaps every vampire story that had ever been created, from the very lame, to the almost real was contained on these shelves. Harry certainly wouldn't put it past the room to do such a thing. _Dracula_, the old black and white movie, converted to DVD, caught his eye, and he looked around for a television with a DVD player. Of course, the room (or maybe it was his mind?) had already conjured one up, and Harry sat on the couch (a nice soft cushy one, too, his mind – or was it the room? – liked comfort!) H lay back on the cushy sofa in front of the TV, turned it on, and watched as the black-and-white film began.

* * *

That's where Draco found him. How Draco got into the room of requirements in the first place (seeing as Harry, not wanting to be disturbed, had made sure the door was visible to _no one_) was a mystery. Harry was too absorbed in his movie to notice anyone enter the room, so Draco took advantage of his invisibility, and watched the vampire-hybrid, silently. 

Harry was crying slightly, but every now and then he would laugh at something in the movie. Draco, of course, had no clue what Harry was watching, it looked like an enchanted box... but who knew?

Suddenly, Harry's face went blank. Draco looked on with interest, not knowing if he should make his presence known or not.

That's when it happened, Harry squeezed his eyes shut, shuddered, then seemed to almost flicker, like you could see through him for a split second, before it seemed he dispersed. Slowly, he disappeared, but the shadows in the room seemed darker, as if they had absorbed him. Then Harry was on the couch again, staring at his hands, and the shadows in the room, before slowly turning his gaze back to the images on the... (enchanted box?) and began to cry harder.

If you've ever seen a dog suddenly snap to attention, after something has caught it's eye (or sense of smell, or hearing, you never know with dogs), such as a squirrel rushing through a bush, you'd know how they immediately perk up, then chase whatever's peaked their interest. Harry looked much like that, because his back became ramrod-straight, and he seemed to be concentrating very intently, until he dispersed, again. Only this time, it was quicker, it seemed like he was getting the hang of it. Draco tried to see if Harry had hidden in the shadows, or maybe if he was invisible, but no matter how much he squinted, or tried to see anything... he came up blank.

Draco gasped as a cold hand grabbed the front of his neck, not forcefully enough to close off his air supply, but with just enough pressure to let you know that it would be in your best interest _NOT TO MOVE._

"What are you doing here?" hissed a voice that Draco instantly associated with Harry.

"I just came here to find you!" Draco was surprised he had managed to keep his voice steady... and was there a hint of the famous Malfoy drawl in there?

"Why?"

"Um," _think fast Draco, come on! _Draco urged himself, "Uh, early lesson?" _wow, that sounded stupid _

"You're right, it did sound stupid. And false... But I'll let it pass. Maybe. Now... why are you here?" the hand around Draco's throat grabbed on a little tighter.

"I was looking for you!" Draco yelled truthfully.

Harry seemed deep in thought for a second, Draco recognized the look and immediately put up his only defense against Harry, and that would be the little mind-wall that he had been taught. Only now, instead of putting random words up as graffiti, the wall said "fuck you"

This earned a small chuckle from Harry, who decided that it wouldn't be so bad to have company as he watched a few movies.

He dropped Draco and walked over to the couch, motioning for Draco to follow.

The blonde seemed confused for a second before seating himself by Harry, hands folded neatly in his lap, his posture excellent and unflawed.

Harry looked on with interest. "No one's around, you don't have to sit so straight. It looks uncomfortable."

Draco seemed surprised. "But... I'm a Malfoy! Malfoy's must have good posture! Excellent posture, in fact! It would be disgraceful to-"

Malfoy's words were cut off as he found himself incapable of speaking. Actually, he felt incapable of doing anything, until that small voice in the back of his brain started to urge him to slouch. Harry's voice, was what Draco identified it as, but that voice was so convincing, he slowly felt his body relax and he slouched down into the amazingly comfortable couch.

Harry smiled then turned back to the movie while Draco shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts before he realized what had just happened.

"You used an Unforgivable on me!"

Harry smiled, "Well, aren't you smart."

"Y-you! But! The- uh..." Draco was at a loss of words.

"Draco, I'm sure you've used an Unforgivable at least once in your life. I'm sure you'll use them a lot, and I'm also sure that this will not be the last time that you'll have one performed on you... think of it as an introduction to the world to come. Now shut up and watch the movie."

Draco had no clue what a "movie" was, but he figured it was the thing on the enchanted box, so he did what he was told, silently fuming. His bad mood didn't linger for long, however, as he was soon lost in the world of movies and the fake little vampires that the muggle world had come up with.

Of course, he couldn't deny that there was another reason he couldn't stay mad at Harry. He just wasn't ready to admit that to himself yet.


	7. Blood Lust

"Potter..."

Harry snapped his head toward Draco, "what?" He asked irritably

"What's that called?"

Harry followed where Draco's finger was pointing.

"That's a T.V. Draco," Harry said in a somewhat patronizing tone.

"Muggles invented that?"

Harry sighed, "yes, they invented it."

"So it doesn't run on magic?"

"No. No magic"

Draco studied the television, "How does it work?"

"I'd explain it to you, but then it would raise whole new questions I'm not ready to deal with right now."

"Why are you being so... I dunno... You're being rather short tempered."

"If you don't like it, then I suggest you leave," Harry said through gritted teeth.

"What's wrong?" Draco asked, genuinely curious.

"I _SAID_ -" Harry stopped mid-sentence, doubling over and clutching his stomach. "Oooh..." he moaned.

"Potter? Potter, what's wrong?" Draco was panicking, something was terribly wrong, vampires didn't get sick, they healed too quickly for anything to do enough damage to cause symptoms.

Harry looked up, and his and Draco's eyes met, Harry's were glowing a bright green, Draco gasped.

"H- Harry?"

"Leave!" Harry yelled, and Draco could tell he was in pain.

"What's wrong!" Draco shouted back.

"I'm hungry," Harry whispered.

"Get something from the kitchen then! God, for a moment I thought there was something seriously wrong wi –" Draco trailed off... "Oh... you mean... hungry... as in... for blood?"

Harry nodded... "You might not want to watch," he said, holding out a shaking hand. Draco did watch, though, with interest as a rat flew into Harry's outstretched hand, and Harry brought it quickly to his mouth. The rat didn't even squeak as Harry drained it of blood.

Harry called two more rats to him, "There, I should be better now..."

"Only three rats?" Draco asked.

"Of course... I'm only half vampire, if I was a full blood, then I'd need about ten rats, or something like that."

"Oh," was all Draco said.

"Well, I'm gonna leave... feel free to stay for a while if you – Oof!" Harry barked as his legs gave out from under him and he fell back onto the couch. "Wha - ?" was all Harry could say before he fell over, unconscious.

That was when Draco got the hint that something was very, very, wrong.

Draco picked up the unconscious vampire hybrid, and walked out of the room of requirements intent on getting Harry to the hospital wing.

Draco made it a few steps down the corridor before Harry stirred, and suddenly lunged, attaching his hands around Draco's neck, bringing his mouth down on the side of his jugular vein.

Draco gulped, genuinely frightened... this didn't seem like Harry at all.

Draco tried to remember everything from his Slayer training. First, he tilted his head towards Harry, forcing Harry's mouth away from his neck. The vampire-hybrid drew back with an angry squeak of protest, quickly followed by a low growl of anger.

That's when Draco swung his arm around, almost hitting Harry in the side of the head, but the vampire hybrid dodged the fist with ease, dropping to the ground, then quickly springing up to his feet.

Draco used the only wandless spell he knew, "Wingardium Leviosa!" he shouted.

Harry began to float, unable to propel himself forward, toward Draco.

Draco gasped as Harry's eyes began to glow brighter and brighter.

"Harry?" Draco thought using Harry's first name might get his attention better, "Harry? What's going on? What's wrong?" In all Draco's Slayer training – which Draco was learning hadn't been that extensive – he had never come across anything like this.

Harry stopped struggling for a second, and looked at Draco. The blonde noticed a flash of... what was that in Harry's eyes? Fear? Draco couldn't tell for sure.

That was when Harry spoke, and actually sounded like the Harry Potter Draco knew, except he sounded scared.

"Draco! What's happening?" Harry's voice sounded weak, and almost like it took a great effort to be able to speak at all.

"I..." Draco was about to tell Harry he had no clue what was going on, Harry was the fucking vampire, he should know, and that he should just kill Harry right now for trying to suck _his_ precious blood, but one look at Harry's distraught face made him re-think the words that were on the tip of his tongue. "You... um... well... I'm not entirely sure... I was never taught on how to deal with a vampire hybrid... but I'll take you to the headmaster and see what he can do, okay?"

Harry looked surprised that Draco had said something kind, and nodded his head. Draco was about to say "finite incantum" but stopped when he heard Harry scream "NO!"

"Huh?" Draco mentally flinched; Malfoy's don't say "huh" it sounded too primitive, only commoners and people of lesser intellect said "huh".

"No, don't put me down... I might try to hurt somebody; I don't want to hurt anybody. I don't know where this blood lust has come from, and until I know, I don't want to be free where I can kill somebody."

Draco nodded; keeping Harry suspended he walked down the hall towards the headmaster's office.

* * *

_I dunno where this blood lust came from_ Draco was walking towards Dumbledore's office when what Harry had said suddenly clicked.

"Potter, you said something about a 'blood lust' correct?" Draco inquired.

Harry looked down and nodded, he was still clutching his stomach, but his animosity had seemed to have passed.

"And you never had this 'blood lust' before?"

Harry mouthed, 'no' and shook his head.

"Only full fledge vampires have what you're calling a 'blood lust.' Well, psychopathic killers do too, but in a different sort of way, what you mean is that you have a strong want for blood, so strong that it has put you in pain, correct?" Draco asked.

Harry's breathing had become ragged, but he nodded, and curled into a tight ball, still holding his stomach.

"Are you _positive_ that you're only a vampire _hybrid_ or are you a vampire, pure and simple?"

"Hybrid," Harry choked out.

"Well, if you were a hybrid before, it seems you aren't any longer... do you think there's some sort of spell that could make your vampiric half take over your more wizard half?" Draco asked.

Harry tried to say something, but couldn't quite form the words, when his eyes went wide with surprise and he said, "I can feel my vampire half... I can tap into it... I can keep it at bay... I guess that's what I had done for a while, was keep it at bay... but... now..." Harry trailed off as his eyes began to glow again, and he stared at Draco with a hungry look in his eyes.

"Right," Draco said as he continued to walk, Harry floating in front of him.

* * *

A/N: I will love you forever if you review! Please do! I live for the reviews! It would mean lots to me if you took the time to type out a few words, give a few suggestions, whatever! Just pretty pretty _pretty _please review!


	8. Don't piss off a vampire, it could be th...

When Draco had finally managed to get to the stone gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office, Harry had passed out from hunger, and knowing what he did, Draco figured that Harry would be dead by tomorrow afternoon if he didn't get anything to eat – er – drink.

"Great, what's the password?" Draco grumbled, staring at the gargoyle.

"Mr. Malfoy, may I help you?" said the voice of Minerva McGonagall.

Draco screwed his eyes shut in annoyance before turning around to face McGonagall with a look of pure innocence.

"Yes, actually, if you could give me the password so I can see the headmaster, I would be very grateful," Draco smiled sweetly.

"And why is Mr. Potter unconscious and floating in mid-air?" McGonagall asked.

Draco swore under his breath, but answered sweetly, "I found him in this state lying in the corridor a few minutes ago, so I decided to bring him to the headmaster."

"And why not bring him to the hospital wing? The boy probably needs medical attention," said the professor.

Draco nodded, "I know, but he has no cuts on him, and no signs that he was under any type of curse, so I thought that maybe he just wasn't eating properly or he was sick, and maybe the headmaster would know the best course of action to insure the Golden Boy's safety."

Minerva nodded, "Draco, please lower Harry to the ground."

Draco swore colorfully again. "I don't think that's such a good idea," he said uneasily.

"Why not?"

"Well, you see, Potter here... well... he –" just then Harry stirred, and looked up, a grimace of pain masking his features.

"Professor McGonagall?" Harry inquired.

"Yes? I am waiting for an explanation as to why you were knocked out," the professor began to get impatient.

"I – I wasn't feeling well and asked Draco for help," Harry said, and then gasped in pain, the hunger coming back.

"And are you feeling okay now?"

Harry began to nod, then clutched his stomach tighter, and shook his head.

"Well then," McGonagall turned to Draco, "put him down, so we can all have a decent conversation."

"No! He can't put me down, just..." Harry trailed off, and then looked at Malfoy, "will you please take me to the headmaster?"

"The headmaster is not on the school grounds for the rest of this week, he was called off to a meeting, and left just a few minutes ago, I'm afraid. I am taking his place temporarily while he is gone, what may I help you with?" McGonagall asked.

"Shit," said Harry, which earned a disapproving glance from the professor.

"Can we go to the infirmary?" Harry asked both Draco and Minerva.

"Sure, I'll take you to Madame Pomfrey," Draco answered.

"What is going on here? Why do you need to go to the hospital wing?" McGonagall asked confused, but trying not to show it. Why were two worst enemies relying on each other?

"Talk to the headmaster, because I'm not authorized to tell you what's happening," said Harry, before groaning and grabbing his stomach again.

"Well, then follow me," said McGonagall, even though she was aware that the two students knew their way to the hospital wing, the gods knew they had both been there enough, she felt as though she had to be of some use.

* * *

The trio finally made it to the infirmary, and Harry was guided to the bed, where Draco asked McGonagall to put a full body bind on Harry. 

The professor gave Draco an odd look, "Mr. Malfoy, I do not find it appropriate for a teacher, or anyone, for that matter, to put a full body bind on anyone, unless there is no other way around it."

Draco sighed, "Well, if you're against using magic to restrain him, I suppose we can always tie him to the bed, but that sounds a little kinky, doesn't it? Don't know how effective it would be either," Draco had lost his angelic appearance that he used on most teachers; he was tired and wanted to know that Harry was all right (not that he would ever tell anyone he was concerned for Harry_ Potter_ of all people).

"Mr. Malfoy!" McGonagall squawked indignantly, she wasn't used to having students talk so bluntly, especially in front of a teacher.

"Professor McGonagall, something is wrong with Harry, and we have to restrain him, otherwise, he might hurt somebody," Draco paused. He noticed the strange look the professor was giving him and quickly added, "not on purpose, of course, it would just happen, because... well... ask the headmaster, but you must restrain him, he's not himself!"

"Draco, I think that I would know how to handle such matters. Look at Mr. Potter; he's probably only suffering from the stomach flu, or a small bug of some kind. Madame Pomfrey will take care of it, and everyone will be on their merry way, there's no cause for alarm."

Draco turned to Harry, who was suspended a few inches off of the bed, "Have you told anyone besides the headmaster? My god! You are the most foolish person I've ever met!"

"Well who could have predicted that the headmaster would have been gone the exact moment something like this chose to happen!" Harry whispered back.

"You should always be prepared, though!" Draco scolded.

McGonagall watched the two boys bicker amongst themselves. She had no clue what they were fighting about, seeing as they were talking to low for her to hear, but she didn't really care. She never thought she'd be happy to see two students fighting, but here she was, extremely glad that the two boys were back to acting normal... whatever normal was.

"Well, I will leave you two to talk amongst yourselves, Madame Pomfrey will be here in a few minutes, she's busy gathering up a sleeping draught for a few students, good day," and with that McGonagall strode out of the hospital wing, bent on figuring out what was wrong with the two students, and prepared to weasel the information from Dumbledore.

* * *

Madame Pomfrey strode into the room, took one look at Harry, then at Draco and started to shake her head in disapproval. 

"What have you two boys gotten yourselves into this time?" She asked.

"Does the school have a store of blood?" Draco asked before Harry could say anything. Harry glared at Draco, but the other boy didn't notice, he was too busy waiting for Madame Pomfrey's answer.

"Well, we have a few pints of blood, but not much; it's from the muggle blood banks, and only used in case of an extreme emergency. Why do you ask? I don't think either of you are in dire need of blood."

Draco chuckled to himself, while Harry continued to glare at him, tempted to cast a rather nasty spell on him.

"Madame Pomfrey, would you be so kind as to grab a pint of your finest blood for my friend Harry, here?" Draco chuckled some more, fond of his little joke. He would have continued to laugh if not for the fist that collided with the side of his head, courtesy of Harry. Draco scowled and moved away from the bed Harry was hovering over.

"And why would Mr. Potter need blood? I don't see a single scrape on him," said Madame Pomfrey.

"Madame Pomfrey... I..." Harry was having a hard time finding the words, he was enough of a freak as it was, let's go add this extra gene and make it worse.

"Draco," Harry said, turning his head towards the blond, "will you please tell Madame Pomfrey about... well... you know, tell her about the predicament that I've found myself in, and make sure no one else hears, please?"

Draco couldn't refuse, after all, Harry sounded civil, decent, small, confused, scared, and almost intelligent all in that one sentence, so Draco motioned for Madame Pomfrey to come closer, and Harry cast a silencing spell, so that no one but the three of them could hear what Draco was about to say.

After explaining to Madame Pomfrey that Harry was a vampire hybrid and something had happened to make him act more like a full blood vampire, she ran off to find Harry a pint of muggle blood.

When Madame Pomfrey returned, she basically threw the pouch of blood at Harry. Draco caught it instead, and handed it to Harry, who grabbed at it, and brought it to his mouth so quickly, the human eye couldn't quite see the motion. Draco ended the spell keeping Harry suspended in mid-air after the hybrid had downed the whole pint of blood and seemed rather satisfied.

Madame Pomfrey stood looking at Harry and finally turned to Draco saying, "Now, he'll need a donor that attends Hogwarts, because we don't have enough muggle blood. Also, if he keeps drinking muggle blood, then he'll develop a taste for it. Muggles don't respond to vampires sucking their blood as wizards do. You see, wizards can stand it, because the vampire's saliva will enter the blood stream, just a little Mr. Malfoy, don't give me that look," she glared at Malfoy who was making a gagging face, then began to speak again. "Anyways, the saliva enters the wizard's blood stream, making the extraction of blood painless, and also more easily digested for the vampire. Wizards can deal with this very easily. The magic in our blood eradicates all magical properties in the saliva. Muggles, however, have no magic to erase the magic that a vampire's saliva introduces into their blood stream. Once one vampire drinks from a muggle, the muggle will become either very weak, and die off in a matter of months, or the saliva will seem to have no effect on them, but their children will have, what muggles call, 'psychic abilities.' Sometimes, these new powers cause the muggle child to be ridiculed, become an outcast, or go insane."

Draco, who had fallen half-asleep from the rather boring lecture that Pomfrey had just given, nodded, and then looked over at Harry, who seemed to be asleep.

"How do I find him a wizard blood donor, without telling anyone about his... unique situation?" Draco asked.

Madame Pomfrey shrugged. "I'm sure his friends, Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger know about all of this. Let them take care of it," and with that she turned to wake Harry up, and sent the two boys off to their dorms.

Harry trudged slightly behind Draco, deep in thought.

Suddenly, he spoke, making Draco jump slightly, "Did you notice that Madame Pomfrey talked about me as if I weren't there?"

Draco shook his head.

"No, think about it. When telling you all about blood donors, she turned to you, instead of me, and I'm the one who needed to know the information, not you."

Draco did think back a bit, and realized that, yes, Madame Pomfrey and told him about the blood donors, not Harry.

"Do you think she was... you know, prejudice about vampires?"

Draco shook his head, choosing not to say anything, seeing as that was an entirely plausible explanation.

"Where am I going to get a blood donor?" Harry said, more to himself than Draco.

"You have your friends, right? The mud blood and the weasel?"

Harry pounced.

Draco went down with a WHUMP onto the hard stone floor.

"DON'T CALL THEM THAT!" Harry yelled at Draco, after successfully pinning him.

Though he tried to struggle and get Harry off of him, Draco was helpless.

"Apologize," Harry demanded.

Making a choking sound that was probably supposed to be a 'no,' Draco stuck his tongue out at Harry, seeing as Harry had his arms pinned, so he couldn't flick him off.

All of a sudden, Harry seemed to calm down, and, getting up off of Draco, and wiping the dirt off of his clothing, said "Alright. Don't apologize then. Well, good night. Hope you have fun sleeping in the corridor."

It took Draco a while to figure out what Harry was talking about, and realized it a second too late.

Invisible arms pinned Draco against a wall and Harry began to walk away, pausing long enough to turn and stick his tongue out at Draco, before continuing on his way to Gryffindor tower.

* * *

A/N: YAY! Reviews! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! I love you lots and lots! Okay, my goal is twenty reviews! At the moment, I'm only seven away! Please please please _please_ help me get twenty reviews! (More would be just fine too!) Anyways! Pretty pretty please review! I will love you forever!


	9. The Taste of Blood

As everyone knows, there are good days, and then there are bad days. Draco was having a bad day. Not only did he not get a good night's sleep, but he missed breakfast, three of his classes, and part of lunch before someone finally found him, and was able to reverse the spell keeping him attached to the wall.

"I'm gonna _kill_ Potter!" he promised himself, while downing his lunch as quickly as possible. He didn't want to miss potions, his favorite class... with his favorite teacher.

When he arrived at potions, everyone was there and seated _except_ for Potter, and oddly enough, Blaise was missing, too. Draco quickly took his seat, and looked at Snape with his complete and undivided attention.

* * *

It happened halfway through the lesson. 

Blaise ran into the room gasping and panting, followed closely by the one and only Harry Potter.

"Help!" shouted Blaise, "The vamp-"

Harry jumped onto Blaise's back, covering his mouth with his hand. He whispered something into Blaise's ear, who nodded, and when Harry stood up, and walked calmly to his seat, Blaise stood up and shouted, "Ha! Just kidding! Wasn't that funny?"

Everyone stared at Blaise as if he were nuts, and then burst out laughing. Snape scowled, but didn't give Blaise detention.

After that, the class went by rather uneventfully. Draco managed to slip Harry a note, during class, asking what the Blaise thing was about. Harry glared at the paper, and it suddenly burst into black flame. Draco jumped back, and Harry looked just as surprised as everyone around him.

Snape appeared by Harry's side in a swish of black cloth. "What, is going on here?" he demanded.

Everyone began to talk amongst themselves, and stare at Harry, who looked up at Snape.

"Nothing, sir," Harry said.

"And I suppose 'nothing' made that paper burst into flames?"

Harry gritted his teeth, trying to remain calm. "No, sir."

"Did you set the paper on fire?"

Harry nodded, staring at the table.

"May I go to the Headmaster's, sir?" Harry asked, almost politely. This threw Snape off balance for a split second, before he regained his composure.

"I think that would be a wise idea, Mr. Potter," he said.

Harry sighed then asked, "Blaise needs to come"

Snape raised an eyebrow.

Blaise leapt in at this point.

"I need to talk to Professor Dumbledore, and as long as Potter here is going, it would be a perfect time for me to visit him," Blaise said, then added quickly, "I finished my potion"

Snape sighed and put his hands on his temples. "Just go."

The two boys ran off. Only Draco noticed, but their footsteps didn't make any noise going down the corridor.

* * *

Harry arrived at Dumbledore's office, after shadow-drifting there. It was where he melted into shadows, and could appear anywhere else. Almost like apparating, only without the large 'pop.' 

"Why, Harry, you're shaking," Dumbledore observed, concern evident in his voice.

Blaise was smiling from ear to ear.

"Hungry," Harry said.

"You shouldn't shadow drift so soon after this new transformation," Dumbledore warned.

Harry just shrugged.

"And Mr. Zambini, what brings you here?"

"I offered to be Harry's blood donor!" He replied enthusiastically.

Dumbledore nodded. "I must warn you, Mr. Zambini, you will feel tired for the first few months after becoming Harry's blood donor. To some, also, you become addicted to feeding time. You will want Harry to feed off of your blood more and more often. Once you are no longer his donor, you might experience withdrawals."

Blaise just nodded, "No, I completely understand! I have done all my research, and I asked for Harry's opinion, and everything! I know what I'm getting myself into!"

Harry fainted.

"Looks like he's hungry, eh?" Blaise said, chuckling, and waking Harry up.

"I will give you two some privacy, I suppose," Dumbledore said, standing up, and leaving the room.

Harry immediately latched onto Blaise's neck, sinking his fangs into the soft flesh. Blaise began to mutter something, but soon fell silent.

To Blaise, the sensation of having Harry drink his blood was like flying. It was almost as if someone was lifting him up. It was bliss.

To Harry, the sensation was more grounding. He could feel something pulling him back to earth. A sensation he had been longing to feel. Ever since he realized he was hungry for wizard blood, it had felt like he had become detached from the world. Floating about freely, and not quite able to find anything to keep him on the ground. Now, finally, he was back on earth, and he planned to stay there.

Slowly, Harry retracted his fangs. Blaise seemed to protest, but slowly opened his eyes, and asked, "So how was the blood?"

Harry pondered the question. "There's a taste there that I can't identify... Maybe all wizard blood has that taste though, I don't know, I've never drank from a wizard before"

Blaise smiled. "Well, I thought it was a wonderful sensation, that flying sensation I got."

Harry nodded, not fully paying attention to Blaise. Something seemed wrong to the golden boy, but he couldn't quite place it. The taste of Blaise's blood still lingered in his mouth. It was sweet, and full of magic, but there was something wrong. Something wasn't right about the blood... what was it?

* * *

A/N: I love you guys! I got my twenty reviews that I wanted! Yay! Happy days! So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! I especially want to thank **Chrisgocountyjr**, who reviewed five times, and **Elektra107**, and **CharmedMilliE**, who both reviewed three times. I love you all! And if you haven't reviewed _please _do! It will mean much to me! I will love you forever and ever! Thanks again for those twenty reviews! 


	10. Trapped in the Shadows

Harry dragged his feet into the great hall, his eyes half opened, and wobbling precariously. He finally made it to the Gryffindor seat, and slumped down ungracefully into his seat. Slowly, he put a few bites of food into his mouth, before barfing everything up.

Ron (and most of his other house mates) backed away from the table, disgusted, and someone cast a cleaning spell, to get rid of the mess. New food appeared, and students began to eat again, looking worriedly at Harry.

"Harry...?" Hermione began softly. Harry grunted, to show he was listening.

"Are you okay? You look a bit..." Hermione trailed off and Ron added, "Under the weather."

Hermione nodded her agreement at Ron's statement.

Harry sighed, "Yeah, I don't feel so great. I think I'm gonna skip lessons today, okay?" he croaked.

His friends agreed that this would be the best course of action, and Harry wobbled out of the great hall, never noticing that Draco and Blaise had watched the whole drama from across the hall.

"What do you suppose is wrong with him?" Draco laughed. He made up his mind to go and see what was up with Harry before class.

Blaise just shrugged, Draco never noticed the strange glint in Blaise's eyes as he watched the sick vampire leave the dining hall.

Reaching up carefully, Blaise put a finger almost lovingly to the place on his neck where Harry had fed from earlier, smiling gleefully, the evil look in his eyes never leaving.

* * *

Harry, meanwhile, was lying on his bed, wondering what was wrong with him. It had something to do with Blaise's blood; he just wasn't sure what was wrong with it, or how it could have affected him this way. Did Blaise know what was happening? Was this all intentional? 

_If Blaise intended for this to happen, what's his motive? Besides the fact that he's Slytherin, of course, _Harry mused to himself.

Of course, thinking about his state, at the moment, and wondering if it had anything to do with drinking blood, he began to speculate about how he became a full fledged vampire, instead of a hybrid.

Dumbledore had expected it might happen, which was why Harry was called into his office on the day he watched movies in the room of requirements. Even Dumbledore, however, didn't know _why_. Why was the big question.

Harry sat up suddenly.

_Did Blaise have something to do with it?_ He pondered. Harry quickly dismissed the thought. You couldn't bring out someone's vampiric side without very good control of your magic and extensive knowledge of black magic. Blaise may have some knowledge of black magic, and moderately good control of his magic, but he was not capable of doing something this big.

_What about Voldemort?_ His mind asked. That was always a possibility. Voldemort would have enough knowledge of the dark arts to pull something like this off... He would also need a body, though. Voldemort didn't have one of those.

_Unless..._ Harry stopped short. _Unless Voldemort did have a body, or he had found a new host_.

Harry got up suddenly, running towards Dumbledore's office. Halfway there, he stopped and shadow-drifted, instead. Blending with the shadows, mingling his good and dark into one, always changing form, he moved faster than light, and more silent than the dark. In less than a second he was at the gargoyle that led up to Dumbledore's office. Barking out the password, he shadow drifted yet again into Dumbledore's office.

"Harry my boy! What brings you here?" Dumbledore said, turning away from Faulks to look at Harry. He gasped at what he saw. Gasping was a rarity for the aged headmaster, and it almost made Harry chuckle, if he wasn't feeling so worn out. Shadow drifting probably hadn't been the best idea...

"Harry, what happened? How are you feeling?" Dumbledore asked, concerned.

"I think someone at school is working for Voldemort," Harry blurted, before falling over, unconscious.

* * *

When Harry woke up, Blaise was standing over him. Harry tried to shove him away from the bed, he wanted nothing to do with the boy, but Blaise stood his ground, and Harry was still weak from lack of blood, and his mysterious sickness. 

"Harry, you need food," Blaise chided him, sounding, to Harry, sickeningly patronizing.

"Not from you," Harry said his voice raspy.

Blaise looked taken aback for a moment, before chuckling softly. "You need blood, you're not thinking clearly," to Harry, Blaise sounded almost panicked that Harry wasn't going to drink any blood.

Harry shook his head weakly. Blaise was right, he did need the blood, but it wouldn't be from Blaise.

Luckily, Madame Pomfrey came over at that exact moment. "Harry, do you need anything?"

Harry nodded, "blood," he managed to say.

Madame Pomfrey nodded thoughtfully, not noticing Blaise, who had backed up out of her line of vision.

"Do you have a donor yet?" Madame Pomfrey asked.

Harry looked at Blaise quickly, deciding he needed the blood right now, otherwise he just might die. Or hurt someone. He decided to risk drinking Blaise's contaminated blood.

He nodded.

"And who is it, dear?"

The name that passed Harry's lips surprised everyone in the room, including Harry himself.

"Draco Malfoy," he said.

Blaise looked fit to kill, and Madame Pomfrey looked stunned. She quickly regained her composure, "I'll get him immediately, then Harry," she said, and sent someone to find Draco Malfoy.

Blaise stormed over to Harry's bed.

"_I'm_ your donor Harry! Me! Not _Draco_!" He spat the name 'Draco' out as if it were poison. "The lack of blood has screwed with your mind. You must have forgotten that _I'm_ your blood donor."

Harry shook his head. "I didn't forget."

Speaking was beginning to take more effort than Harry wanted to spend on words that meant nothing.

Blaise suddenly whipped out his wand. Harry looked stunned for a moment, and then did the worst possible thing he could have done. He shadow drifted. Under normal circumstances, this would have been a smart move. But this was not normal circumstances. Besides having drunk impure blood, and therefore being in a semi-critical medical condition, Harry had also not drank any good blood to sustain his life, leaving him weak, and altogether almost incapable of performing any magical tasks.

Draco showed up in the infirmary seconds after Harry had disappeared. "Blaise?" he said in confusion.

Blaise pretended to look startled. "Oh! Draco! Did you come up here to see how Harry was doing also?" Blaise had just gotten an ingenious idea.

Draco gave his friend a quizzical look. "You're here to see how _Potter_ is doing? What are you playing at Zambini?"

Blaise put on an innocent look, the one reserved for talking with teachers, "Nothing, I just came to see how Harry was doing. I am going out with him, you know."

Draco looked stunned. "_You're_ his mate?"

"He hasn't said as much yet, but I'm sure I am," Blaise said, puffing up. Although the normal observer might not notice how this small statement flustered Draco, Blaise, who had grown up with Malfoy, knew what he was feeling. In a twisted, very Slytherin way, his friend's silent suffering was giving Blaise an ego boost, and a sick satisfaction.

Draco felt as if he were about to cry, a new experience for him. He hadn't cried since he was a baby, and even then, he had been a rather silent child. He had never had a reason to cry. Even now, the feeling of sadness, and the weight pressing on his heart confused him.

Harry still hadn't returned.

Draco noticed this and asked, "Well, where is Potter?"

Blaise looked about the room, confused. "I... I don't know..."

Draco felt a cold wind, which made him shiver, but not from cold, it was something else. Then he heard it, someone was whispering his name.

"Draco..." The voice was so soft Draco wasn't sure if he heard it or imagined it.

"Help me, Draco, please..." Malfoy was positive he had heard something this time.

"Blaise, do you hear that?"

Blaise shook his head, looking at his friend like he was crazy.

"Who's there? Are you a ghost?" Draco asked.

"It's Harry Potter, help me, please..." the voice was getting softer. Draco wanted so badly to reach out his hand, to feel something solid, to pull Harry out of wherever he was trapped. And what confused Draco the most is that until a while ago, he had never wanted to even think about touching Potter unless it was because he was punching his face in.

"Where are you?" Draco asked again.

"I'm in the shadows..." came the soft reply.

"You're in the-" Draco looked around the room, and it dawned on him.

"You're shadow drifting?" he asked

"Yes, only, I can't stop I..." The voice faded away, and Draco could no longer hear him.

"Harry? Harry? Where are you? HARRY!" He called.

No one answered.

Harry was lost in the shadows.

* * *

**A/N: yay! At the moment, I have almost thirty reviews! I'm so happy! To answer your question, though _Anglachel, _Blaise was threatening to tell aboutHarry'ssecret, butI'll go into that more in the next chapter! Thank you, all youpeople who've reviewed! Please keep reviewing! It makes me happy, and I will love you forever!**


	11. Umbra World

Draco rushed as quickly as he could to Dumbledore's office. He didn't know when or why he had started to care so much for the prat that was Harry, but he didn't have time to dwell on the subject.

Finally, Draco reached the gargoyles, and hit a road block. How did you get past two stone gargoyles?

"Headmaster!" he called, hoping the stupid old man could hear him, "Headmaster, Harry needs your help!"

_If anyone hears me yelling this, it'll definitely ruin my reputation. If my reputation is ruined because of Potter, then when he gets back from wherever he is, I will fucking **kill **__him! _That was the thought process of one Draco Malfoy.

The gargoyle jumped aside, however, and Draco assumed that the old guy had heard him. He bounded into Dumbledore's office, rambling on and on, not really aware of what was coming out of his mouth. It was very un-Malfoy-ish. If any of his family heard him, or when he looked back on this moment, he would feel deep shame. Malfoys don't ramble, blubber, or talk without making complete and total sense (even if the logic is a bit skewed).

"Calm down Mr. Malfoy!" Dumbledore said, holding up a hand to stop the boy. "Now tell me calmly what it is you want me to know, and we'll see if we can find a solution to it, hmm?"

Draco took a breath and continued on with the story of how Harry had been shadow drifting and had somehow gotten stuck in the shadows, or something like that.

The Headmaster nodded. "I see," was all he said, before walking over to a bookshelf, which Draco hadn't noticed previously, and picking an aging volume off of the dusty shelves.

Flipping through the pages, Dumbledore finally stopped on one page in particular, poking his finger almost accusingly at the words listed there.

"Aha! I think I have the answer, Mr. Malfoy," He said, his eyes glittering, "Vampires are very interesting creatures, you know..." he began.

"I don't need a lecture! I want to know how I can get my arch enemy out of some mystical void!" Draco could feel his temper rising, and forced himself to calm down. Why was he acting like this? He was confusing himself.

_Must be the lack of sleep,_ he thought. _I would never act this way if I was getting a decent amount of sleep each night._

"Well, it seems that you're friend, er, _arch enemy_," the annoying twinkle was back in Dumbledore's eyes, "has been trapped in a 'shadow world' parallel to our own. Another dimension, if you will.

Draco stared at Dumbledore, as if he didn't understand what the old fool was saying. In actuality, however, he understood the situation almost completely.

"Why can I hear him?" Draco asked suddenly.

Dumbledore smiled, looking over his half moon glasses, "That, Mr. Malfoy, you must find out on your own."

Draco cursed to decrepit old man under his breath.

"Is there a way to get him back?"

Dumbledore looked very sad for a moment, before staring at Draco. The young Malfoy felt as though his very soul were being watched like a hawk, scrutinized for every little detail, and finally deemed trustworthy.

"Harry is in a place very few return from..." he began.

"You mean this has happened before?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Almost, first, however, I think you need to understand where Harry truly is."

"I know where he is, you already told me that, remember? The shadow world?" Draco was beginning to lose his patience. Was the old man really _that_ forgetful?

"No need to snap, Mr. Malfoy, I simply do not believe you understand the gravity of the situation."

Draco nodded impatiently, waiting for Dumbledore to continue.

"What do you think I meant by shadow world, Mr. Malfoy?" Dumbledore asked.

Draco shrugged, "A place where Harry is currently trapped. I assume there are a lot of shadows there."

Dumbledore nodded slowly, "Let me tell you something, Mr. Malfoy. In Latin, the word _umbra_ means 'ghost.' The word comes into the English language in many common day words. Such as what the muggles call an _umbrella_. Now tell me, Mr. Malfoy, what does the _umbrella_ do?"

Draco shrugged. How was he supposed to know? He didn't care what muggles invented.

"Umbrellas create _shade_ Mr. Malfoy. _Umbra_ comes into the English language as meaning 'shade' or _shadow_." Dumbledore accented the last word, and the point that the headmaster was trying to make finally dawned on him. Dumbledore noticed this, but continued with his explanation anyways.

"Harry isn't in just a shadow world, Mr. Malfoy. He's in the _umbra_ realm now... the _ghost_ world."

* * *

**A/N: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I love you all! I worship the ground you walk on! I think I've said this same thing about a gazillion times, but it's true! Thank you guys so much for reviewing! I have over thirty reviews and I am sssooooo happy! **

**THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING!**


	12. And It Began to Rain

Harry was confused, to say the least. He was in a rather dull and dreary placed, that looked exactly like Hogwarts... only empty, and less bright, somehow. There was still color, of course, it just seemed that nothing was quite as alive. For a while, he had thought he had heard Draco's voice, but that had faded away, and he couldn't hear anything, or anyone, now. On the bright side, however, Harry no longer felt the fatigue of going too long without blood, and the blood lust that he had feared had entirely disappeared.

"Hello?" He called, "Hello-o-o?"

Nobody answered. Harry had expected that.

He was passing by the first floor bathroom, the one where Moaning Myrtle lived, when he heard a wailing sound. Harry sprinted to the bathroom door, shoving it open and bursting into the lavatory.

Moaning Myrtle was flying about the bathroom, screaming her head off. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, _finally_, he thought, _something normal... well, as normal as it can get, around here. _

"Myrtle!" he called. Unsurprisingly, she didn't hear him, seeing as she was caught up in her own self-pity.

"MYRTLE!" he called again. The ghost looked up, surprised.

"Myrtle, where are we?" Harry asked. Moaning Myrtle had stopped sniffling, and even her voice was not in the least bit whiney, or sad. Instead, her voice was full of wonder, and confusion.

"How did you die?" she asked.

Harry was confused, and stated as much. "I'm not dead."

Myrtle laughed. "You're just in denial! I can tell, you're dead, otherwise, you wouldn't be here!"

"Where's here?"

"Well, _here_ is the world where the living can't go! A ghost world! Just for us dead folk!"

Harry breathed in sharply. _Dead world? _That's not good.

_But how did I die?_ Harry wondered to himself. _This place looks somewhat familiar... _And then it hit him. It seemed familiar because he had been here before.

* * *

"But how did he end up there, Headmaster?" Draco asked, still in shock from being told that Harry was in the realm of the dead, but not actually dead himself. 

The old man had that annoying twinkle in his eye which usually signified that he knew exactly how it had happened, but wasn't about to tell you.

"Think, my dear boy. He's in a shadow world. How do _you_ think he ended up there?"

Draco thought about this for awhile. The answer was so blatantly obvious that it wasn't coming to him.

And then he knew.

Looking at Dumbledore, he said, "It was when he –

* * *

"- shadow drifted," Harry said, finally realizing when he had been here. When he had shadow drifted, this is where he had been for those few minutes that the shadows had absorbed him. 

He tried to shadow drift again. If that form of transportation had gotten him into this mess, then it could most certainly get him out. Harry soon found out that this was just wishful thinking.

* * *

"But how? Whenever he shadow drifted before, he always came back! Why's he stuck now!" Draco practically yelled. 

"Maybe," Dumbledore paused, as if thinking, "it had something to do with the lack of blood. Or maybe, with the blood itself..."

Draco ran out of the room to find Blaise, not pausing to say good day to Albus. Dumbledore, however, did not mind, he was smiling after the boy. When the blond had departed from his office he turned to Faukes, shaking his head slightly.

"Do you see it in his eyes, too Faukes?" He asked the bird, who gave one short, sharp note, and nodded his head in agreement.

"I can tell that Mr. Malfoy is fighting his fate... and Harry..." Dumbledore trailed off sadly, "They're bound to be together. The vampire in Harry desperately needs a mate, and Harry needs someone who loves him, not as a savior or super hero. Our young Mr. Malfoy is a perfect match... and I think he is beginning to understand, although he will never admit it, isn't that right Faukes?"

The bird again bobbed his head up and down, his intelligent eyes never leaving the headmaster.

"Harry won't be so willing to have Mr. Malfoy in his life, I believe... but the fates decreed the two together, and I believe that Draco is the only person who can save the young Potter from the Umbra world..."

Faukes gave a piercing screech into the office, and Dumbledore turned his face towards the window, looking out into the sky, which was dark and dreary.

"Yes Faukes, I feel it, too. Something will happen, and soon. All we can do now is wait."

The bird also stared out the window. It began to rain.

* * *

**A/N: THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH, EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED! I have almost forty reviews! Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would get FOURTY REVIEWS! So I am SUPER happy! Thank you everyone! **

**Also, I know a lot of people said to make my chapters longer, and I know this one is really short, but the one after this is longer, I promise! So I'm sorry for the short chapter!**

**Oh! I almost forgot! Thank you for _Wyccegurl _who reviewed one of my other stories for telling me that I have been spelling Zambini wrong, it's supposed to be spell Zabini! So I'm really sorry about that, and thank you so much for pointing out for me! If I've been spelling anything else wrong, please tell me! (I think I've been spelling Faukes wrong, but I'm not sure).**


	13. As He Fades Away

"BLAISE!" Draco screamed. He was angry, and he wasn't all that sure why. It didn't matter right then, all that mattered was that Draco knew that Blaise was somehow responsible for Harry's sudden disappearance, and the only way to get the scar head back was to get to Blaise and figure out what was going on.

"Yeah?" Blaise said, looking up as Draco entered the common room.

"Do you remember that day in potions, when you came into the potions class screaming something at Potter?"

Blaise thought for a moment, then nodded.

"What was that?" Draco figured that that incident perhaps held some answers as to why Harry was in a ghost world.

"Well, you see," Blaise paused then added, "you'll like this plan Draco, it was very Slytherin, if I do say so myself,"

Draco motioned for Blaise to get on with it.

"Well," Blaise continued, "You realize that I found out that Harry was a vampire hybrid? Well, I found a spell in an ancient book on how to trap a vampire. Unfortunately, it only works on full blood vampires. So I turned him into a full fledged blood sucker,"

Here, Draco cut him off, "but how?" he asked.

Blaise waved a hand, showing the question was irrelevant and unimportant, but answered it anyways, "I found a spell for it in the restricted section of the library. Anyways, after turning him into a vampire, I then told him that if he didn't let me become his blood donor, then I would tell everyone what he was. Of course, he didn't like that idea, but I had already took off running to the potions class. He caught up to me rather quickly. I ran into potions, screaming about how the vampire was going to hurt me, but he cut me off before I could say vampire, as you know. He then told me that I could be his blood donor. Everything was going according to plan.

Draco listened to Blaise's story with rapt attention, realizing the genius of it, and also being slightly disturbed at how manipulative and cunning his friend could be. Of course Draco hated Potter, until quite recently, but never in his wildest dreams would he do something like what Blaise was currently describing.

"After I became his blood donor, I took a potion, which cause him to become weak and even though he was drinking sufficient amounts of my blood, his body would get no nutrients from it, making it so that it was like he wasn't drinking at all. Basically starving him, and poisoning him slightly, until he was too sick to do much. Then he shadow drifted, and it effectively trapped him some other dimension. That part wasn't really _supposed _to happen, but that's okay. It works out better for me anyways. Now I never have to see him again."

"But why? I mean, I hate Potter and all," Draco noticed, with little surprise, that this was a huge lie, "But I would never do something this... well... _cruel_. Even if I am in Slytherin."

"Well, see, that's a different story. This whole plan was a type of revenge, you see. It all started when my dopey owl couldn't find the correct address and sent a letter to Potter, instead of Penelope, an old friend. Potter, surprisingly, responded, and we soon became good friends. As we all know, I prefer guys, and apparently, so does the boy-who-lived. I asked him out, we met a few times, I fell in love. Then he got his inheritance. As soon as he became a vampire hybrid, he became more serious about everything. He told me that he needed to find a mate and that even though I was a wonderful guy, he didn't think that he could spend eternity with me, and so, I was dumped. I had to get revenge, and I did it! Isn't it wonderful?"

Draco was stunned. "You were able to transform Potter into an actual vampire with a spell you found in a book? I don't think that that's entirely possible... It takes very strong magic to pull something like that off..." Draco finally said.

"Well, of course! I did have a little help... I sent a letter of to my father, and he got me an amulet that magnifies one spell... apparently it was quite expensive, but you know Father... anything for his darling Blaise... Anyways, I cast the spell with the help of this amulet. It worked, too!" Blaise was beyond excited at his 'genius.'

"Blaise, the savior of the wizarding world is trapped in the shadow world! How could this be good! We aren't death eaters! Remember all those times when we would sit and say how we would be neutral in all of this war business? Remember that!" Draco struggled to keep his voice under control.

Blaise shrugged. "That was part of the deal with my Father. He gives me the amulet, I become a death eater. So now, it is good, don't you see? You of all people should be happy that Potter is gone! You were always fighting, and now he's gone! Now the Dark Lord will be able to take over easily. The Malfoy and Zabini families will have so much power! The Dark Lord promised it!"

"Blaise..." Draco, who at first couldn't keep his voice down, was now having a hard time finding words. If this was what emotion felt like all the time, he really wanted to go back to being the big slab of granite that he was before. No emotion showing on his face, no emotion felt.

"Blaise, how could you? After all we planned? We were going to be neutral! You promised!"

And indifferent look had settled on Blaise's features, "A small child's promises are unstable and unreliable. What I said then and what I am saying now hold no relation to each other. I made my decision, now you make yours. Are you going to stay 'neutral' or are you going to come and join me. We're friends, remember? I just got rid of your problem, your rival. Now repay the favor, right now you're standing in the gray, come on over into the black, it's strange how once you've stepped into the black, everything's easier to see. I think the white on the light side blinds them," Blaise stood and took out his wand, pointing it at Draco's heart.

"Blaise?"

"I just told you everything I did. If you go and rat me out, I'll be expelled, and probably put into Azkaban, so the only way to make sure no one knows what I did, you have to come and join the Dark Lord. Otherwise..." Blaise trailed off. When he spoke again, his voice was barely above a whisper, "otherwise I'm afraid our friendship is over... death sometimes tears friends apart."

Draco couldn't think straight. There was way too much going through his mind. Blaise's face was contorted into something strange, and evil-looking. Something only found in nightmares. That indescribable mask of fear. Draco averted his eyes, unable to look at his friend-turned-death-eater.

Suddenly, Draco had that feeling that Harry was in the room with him. He was there. Draco looked into Blaise's eyes with renewed hatred, "No. I won't choose the Dark Lord. I won't choose the light. I'll stay in the gray, Blaise. Because you're right, the white on the light side blinds them, but the dark blinds too. I can see everything clearly from where I stand."

Blaise was confused for a second before what Draco had said really sunk in. His face twisted into a mask of rage, and he shouted the killing curse at Draco.

Time seemed to slow down for a second. Draco could see the bolt of green light coming at him, and had just enough time to make the comparison that the green light was the same color as Harry's eyes, before the spell was... deflected?

Draco stood and watched as the spell cast by Blaise himself came back and hit the caster with so much force; it threw him backwards into a common room wall. Blaise slid down from the stone barrier, dead.

Not believing his eyes, Draco blinked many times very rapidly, before finally noticing he wasn't alone in the room, Harry was standing in front of him, but not completely. It looked as if Harry was a ghost, Draco could see right through him!

Harry's eyes were wide, and Draco could see that the vampire had now started to gasp in pain, and finally crumpled to the ground, where the image flickered once, and then vanished.

Staring at the spot where Harry had been, Draco began to cry for the first time he ever remembered.

"Harry..." he whispered.

* * *

**A/N: DUN DUN DUN! Is Harry dead? For good banished to the underworld! Only thenext chapter will tell! But please review in the meantime! I HAVE OVER FORTY REVIEWS! Yippy!**

**_Phoegan Leisha_:****Thank you for pointing out my mispelling of Fawkes! I thought I might have gotten it wrong, but I didn't want to go through the book looking for the name, so I spelled it as best I could. Thanks again for pointing it out!**

**And thank you everyone else who's reviewed! I love you all so much!**

**As for the chapter being longer... This chapter is 1,400 something words... Is that long enough? Or do you want me to make it longer? I had made this the last chapter (changed ending and all that) but then I decided I loved my story too much to just end it. I want it to be at least twenty chapters, and this is only chapter thirteen, so I have a few more to go!**

**For everyone who has reviewed:  
****THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH (I know I say this too much) AND I LOVE YOU FOR REVIEWING! I WORSHIP THE GROUND YOU WALK ON! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!**


	14. One Hour

Unable to understand what he was feeling, Draco went to the only person he trusted in the entire school... besides Harry, who could be dead for all Draco knew, and besides Blaise, who _was_ dead.

"Professor Snape?" Draco asked timidly, very un-Malfoyish.

"What do you want!" Snape practically shouted. Then, seeing it was Draco, softened his tone to something resembling 'fatherly.' "Oh. Hello Draco. I didn't realize it was you, come in."

Snape was taken aback at what he saw. Draco was disheveled, his hair all over the place, and his face streaked with tears. His robes were also in a haphazard fashion, looking crumpled and dirty.

"What happened!" Snape asked, concern filling his voice.

"I-I..." Draco burst into fresh tears.

Snape waited patiently for the boy to regain his composure. Severus Snape had never been one of the most comforting people in the world.

Finally, Draco stopped crying, and looked up at his potion's teacher, and basically life-long friend.

"Harry Potter, sir," he finally said, one tear rolling slowly down his cheek.

"Potter? What's that boy done now to get you into this sort of shape?"

"He... He might be dead sir?"

Snape didn't fully comprehend what Draco was telling him at first.

"You came to me to tell me this? Why not the headmaster!" Draco could see Snape was frightened, but was trying not to show it. After all, if Harry really _was_ dead, then Voldemort would have an easy time taking over the wizarding world.

"B-because sir," Draco was near tears again, but held them back, "because I thought you might want to explain to me why I don't care that the savior of the wizarding world is gone," Snape opened his mouth to speak, but Draco continued, "I don't care that the _hero_ Harry Potter is gone... I care that _Harry_ is gone..." and here Draco broke down, leaving Snape to slowly herd him towards Dumbledore's office.

SsSsSsSsSsSssSsSsSs

"Mr. Malfoy?" Dumbledore asked, acting confused, yet already having an idea of why the boy was in his office.

"Harry might be... might be..." Draco couldn't finish the sentence.

"Harry Potter might be dead, Albus," Snape said for him. Draco looked up at Snape gratefully.

That was when Dumbledore did what both Snape and Draco least expected. He laughed.

"My dear boy!" Dumbledore said, turning to Draco, "Harry isn't dead!"

_Oh dear gods... He's in denial!_ Was Draco's first thought.

"But... But I saw him, he was a ghost, he flickered... He was gone..."

Albus laughed a little more, then continued, "Of course you saw him as a ghost, he's in the ghost world, but he's alive. Although at the moment, I don't think he's in very good condition..." Dumbledore trailed off, suddenly not laughing very much longer.

"How do I get him back, sir?" Draco asked, overjoyed that Harry was alive, but not so happy about the 'not in very good condition' part.

"Well... I think Severus has a few _Paene Umbra_ potions left..." Dumbledore said.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

Pain. That was all Harry could feel. It was like a steam roller had gone over his body breaking ever bone anyone could possibly break.

Harry didn't remember much of why he felt like this. It had something to do with a curse... But which one? He remembered Draco being there... saving Draco, that was what he had been doing... but from whom? And why? A death eater, perhaps? Voldemort, even? No... Voldemort couldn't have gotten into the school... Blaise, then?

The pain came back full force and Harry blacked out. The last image on his mind had been Draco... Draco's eyes, his hair... his voice. And suddenly Harry heard Draco's voice, loud and clear, as if he was standing right next to him. "_Don't worry Harry. I'm coming, I promise_," and Harry blacked out.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

"What does a _Paene Umbra_ potion do?" Draco asked as Snape searched vigorously through his never ending supply of potions.

After much grumbling and the sound of breaking glass Snape finally answered, "It means, _Almost a ghost_, in Latin. It will temporarily let you into the ghost realm. But only temporarily. No more than an hour. I could strengthen it to allow you a longer time period... but we don't have time for that. In the long run, only an hour and no preparation time will be best."

Draco nodded his head, then whispered almost to himself, _"Don't worry Harry. I'm coming, I promise_."

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

"Ah! I found it!" Snape yelled triumphantly, holding a smile vile above his head. Inside of the glass tube was a greenish liquid which looked rather unhealthy to drink.

_Looks like it'd kill you... ha-ha... wait... that's what it's supposed to do_... Draco suddenly felt very uneasy, but he wanted Harry back. He wasn't sure why... he had an idea, but he didn't want to touch on the possibility that maybe... maybe Harry could be a friend... or more... his heart hoped more.

"_Maybe even mates..." _Draco said under his breath.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

It was Draco's voice that woke him up. All it said was "_Maybe even mates_..." but that was enough for Harry. He moved towards where he thought he heard the blonde's voice. Unfortunately, in the shadow world, sounds tended to reverberate, and echo around. Depression... pain... hopelessness... he just wanted it to end. Harry lay down and went back to a dreamless sleep.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

Draco gulped down the despicable tasting potion, and felt himself seem to float. The feeling was replaced by a sense of lightness... almost like he could float if he wanted to... but could walk about too.

"Harry!" he called into the grey world. At first Draco couldn't tell why this place was different from Hogwarts... and then he noticed the lack of color. Everything was black and white... or different shades of grey.

"Strange..." he murmured. Then continued his search for Harry.

60 min.

"Harry! Harry answer me! It's Draco! Draco Malfoy! I want to help you! Where are you?"

Draco heard a strange cackling noise off to his left, and turned down the corridor to find Harry. It didn't sound like the golden boy though...

59 min.

"Peeves!" Draco shouted. Although he knew he was in a ghost world, the place had seemed to empty that he was amazed to see _anyone_ here... even ghosts.

Peeves stopped cackling insanely, and turned to Draco.

He began to say in a sing song voice,

"Awww... Poor Drakie Wakie died? For shame!

"Who for this tragedy is there to blame?"

"Have you seen Harry Potter?" Draco didn't want to play games.

58 min.

"Is Ickle Harry-kins lost too?

Whatever are we to do?"

Peeves cackled at his stupid rhymes.

"Peeves! Help me! He could die! For once in your pathetic death, help someone!"

Peeves just started to laugh manically, and flew up through the roof.

"Goddamn it!" Draco shouted up towards the ceiling.

57 min.

_If I were Harry... where would I be?_ Draco ran to the Slytherin common room, because that was the last place that he had seen the world's Golden Boy.

56min

55 min.

54 min.

53 min.

52 min.

51 min.

50 min.

49 min.

It seemed as though Draco was moving under water, all of his movements were slowed. He looked at the 'watch' that his twice removed uncle had given him for Christmas one time. It was apparently a muggle contraption, but it had been enchanted to run on magic, automatically change times from time zone to time zone, and take voice commands.

48 min.

He still wasn't at the Slytherin dorms. There was something wrong. why couldn't he go fast? What was wrong with this world?

47 min.

"Maybe you should try gliding?" came a voice from behind Draco.

"Huh?" Draco stopped running and turned.

There stood nearly headless Nick, hovering a few feet above the ground.

"I said, maybe you should try gliding. It gets you going faster."

"R-right," Draco said. Nearly Headless Nick had always creeped him out slightly, with his head flapping all over in strong winds and such. It wasn't a pretty sight.

46 min.

"How do I float?"

Nick just shrugged. "You just _do_. I can't explain it. It's like explaining breathing... ah... breathing... I haven't done that in a while..." Nick stared wistfully off into space.

"Right. Uh. Thank you for your help..."

45 min.

Draco started to jump. "Float... c'mon, _float_..." He kept telling himself.

44 min.

43 min.

42 min.

41 min.

40 min.

39 min.

38 min.

"Got it!" Draco screamed, as he found himself suspended in mid air. He started to do swimming motions to go forward, and very quickly learned that it wasn't going to work that way.

37 min.

36 min.

35 min.

Finally Draco could glide forward, and at an amazingly fast speed, too.

"Hold on Harry, I'm coming!" he yelled, flying through the halls.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSs

In his dreamless sleep, Harry suddenly smiled.

Suddenly, he wasn't so dreamless.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

25 min

Ten minutes later, Draco began to shout, overjoyed.

"Finally!" Draco yelled in victory after finally getting to the Slytherin dungeons.

He shouted the password, and nothing happened.

"Damn it! Open already you fucking door!"

24 min.

Eventually, Draco was too frustrated to do anything but kick the door to the dungeons in frustration.

He did not expect, however for his foot to fly through the door.

23 min.

His foot was quickly followed by his body, and he found himself sprawled on the floor of the common room.

"Well... I'm here... so where's Harry...?"

22 min.

Harry could feel Draco in the room. He stirred slightly, and awoke slowly.

"Draco?" he asked.

"Guess again..." came a voice that made Harry begin to shiver.

21 min.

Draco could have sworn he had Harry... and someone else?

"HARRY?" Draco shouted as loud as he could.

20 min.

No one answered for a while. Draco waited. He had the inexplicable sense that Harry had heard him... where was he?

19 min.

18 min.

"Help..."

"Harry!" Draco yelled out of joy.

He ran over to where Harry was laying, which was behind a couch, strangely enough, and came face to face with the last person he wanted to see.

* * *

**A/N: I have FIFTY REVIEWS! Yay! Halfway to one hundred! That's so cool! This story is almost over... It might not be quite twenty chapters... maybe seventeen or eighteen. One of those. Anyways, thank you all so much for reviewing! I love you all!**

**Oh, and I know Draco is really really out of character in this chapter... but I think it works okay...**


	15. Vale Mundo

15 min.

The man beside Harry stared at Draco, his gaze unwavering. Draco stared back, also not blinking.

"Well... How are you Draco? Did you die too?" The voice was in no way kind or forgiving. The sound was harsh and grating, very unlike how Draco had known it to be before, when the person had been alive.

14 min.

"Blaise, how wonderful to see you," Draco answered his voice equally as hard and merciless.

"But the pleasure is all mine. You see, Harry here will die in... Oh, I'd give him about twenty minutes... That's what happens when you get in the way of an unforgivable... Apparently my spell to make him a full vampire is void now... It must have happened while he was in the shadow world. So since he's a hybrid, he's easier to kill... I'm sure he's told you?"

Draco felt himself nod, but he was no longer thinking of what he was doing. All he felt was a strange emptiness. Harry was dying. Dying...

13 min.

"So since he decided to be a _hero_ for once in his pathetic life," Blaise kicked Harry in the side. He didn't even move.

"Because he stepped in front of the curse I threw, it rebounded, but it was still potent enough to kill him, obviously."

12 min.

Draco gritted his teeth and drew his wand, but Blaise raised his hand, and threw his wand aside.

"I'm already dead, do you really think that your pathetic spells will do any damage? You, however, are alive, so just think of the advantage I'd have!" Blaise let out an awful noise which Draco supposed was him laughing.

11 min.

"No. We will not be using wands... I prefer swords myself. Here," Blaise tossed a sword towards the blond. The blade was a black color, and looked highly reflective, but when he looked closer, Draco saw that he couldn't see anything except for swirling colors.

10 min.

"These blades can kill the dead, so to speak. They can bind a ghost to a person, therefore eliminating the free will of said ghost. Ready?"

Draco nodded.

9 min.

The swords made no sound as the clashed against one another. Draco found it unnerving.

Sparks would fly from the blades every time they came in contact with one another, as if to make up for the lack of sound.

8 min.

Ghosts don't get tired, but Draco wasn't a ghost. After only a minute he was hardly able to keep up with Blaise.

That was turning into a problem.

7 min.

Sparks. That was what Draco saw right before Blaise's sword came down towards his throat, but stopped short.

Blaise chuckled again, those awful dry sounds issuing from his throat, making Draco want to cringe, and cover his ears.

6 min.

"Well... seems as though I have you, Draco Malfoy... but I would like you to watch something first..." Blaise walked over to where Harry was lay, crumpled and knocked out cold.

"Goodbye Harry Potter," Zabini said, and then brought the sword down through Harry's neck.

5 min.

"No..." Draco whispered to himself. Something in him just snapped, and instead of being angry, instead of wanting revenge, Draco wanted to curl up and die. He stared at Blaise and didn't move.

"Why?" He asked, even though Blaise had already told him everything, he had the strange feeling that Blaise had left something out.

"Why?" Blaise repeated, "Why, Draco, you really _are_ quite thick sometimes. You two are mates, didn't you realize? That's why I wanted you to watch that, because I am sick and tired of you doing everything better. You do better in Dark Arts, in Potions, in every single class, in Quidditch, and now, you took Harry when _I_ loved him."

4 min.

Draco was crying, and he didn't care, he just wanted Blaise to kill him. Bring the sword down and end it all. Maybe he'd see Harry...

3 min.

"Well... good bye Draco!" Blaise laughed swinging the sword in an arch downwards towards Draco's neck.

Malfoy closed his eyes, waiting for the dark to wrap him into it's protective cocoon... who knew, maybe he'd be a ghost and come back to this world...

* * *

**A/N: Short chapter, I know! But I really wanted to make this a cliffie, and I think I did! So enjoy! (I promise I'll post the next chapter tomorrow so you don't have to wait too long to find out what happens!)**

**Oh, and I almost forgot to add:  
I HAVE SIXTY REVIEWS! COUNT 'EM! S-I-X-T-Y! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR MAKING ME SUPER HAPPY BY GIVING ME _SIXTY_ REVIEWS! I LOVE YOU ALL! I WORSHIP THE GROUND YOU WALK ON! ONE DAY I MIGHT SET UP A SHRINE IN MY ROOM IN ALL OF MY REVIEWER'S HONOR! okay... actually, that might be taking it a bit too far... BUT I LOVE YOU ALL!**


	16. A Prophecy To Fulfill

2 min.

"AVADA KADAVRA!" came a voice from somewhere behind Blaise.

Draco knew that voice.

"Harry..." He said softly.

Blaise didn't even scream as the light hit him again, for the second time. Spells may not have any affect in the after life, but it did knock him unconscious.

1 min.

Harry lurched forward, grabbed one of the swords awkwardly and stabbed Blaise through the heart.

"Stay there. Forever. I never want you to move from that spot Blaise Zabini," Harry croaked before turning and smiling at Draco.

30 sec.

Harry collapsed and Draco picked him up. He took a potion from his pocket, and made Harry drink it. Suddenly, the vampire was gone, and Draco waited for his potion to wear off.

* * *

"Will he be okay!" Draco asked, running into the infirmary. 

Taking one look at all of the sullen faces, Draco got his answer and burst into tears. He found he'd been crying a lot lately. If his father saw him, Draco would never hear the end of it.

"He was hit with an unforgivable curse... I don't know if he'll be able to survive that... If he had a mate... well then... maybe he would pull through..." Dumbledore looked at Draco with that twinkle in his eye. The blond nodded, and headed towards the boy on the bed.

"Harry?" he asked softly.

Harry's head turned and his green eyes stared into stormy grey ones.

"Hey there," Harry said, his voice cracking and weak.

"Do you know what a dork you were stepping in front of the killing curse like that!" Draco asked, almost outraged.

Harry smiled widely and nodded his head.

Draco smiled down at him.

"Did you ever find your mate?" Draco asked softly.

Harry nodded again.

"And who..."

Draco never finished as Harry's lips touched his softly in a light kiss. The Slytherin deepened the kiss as the teachers slowly filed out of the room. Dumbledore turned just before exiting the room, looking at the two boys for a second before leaving and turning to Fawkes, who was perched on his shoulder, "You could have healed him, at least for a while,isn't that right, Fawkes?"

The bird nodded.

Dumbledore chuckled, "but I do love how this turned out so much better."

The bird nodded again, letting out a soft note, which seemed to linger in the air.

* * *

"So I'm going to be stuck with The-Boy-Who-Just-Won't-Fucking-Die for the rest of my life?" Draco asked his smile in place, to let Harry know he was joking. 

"Hey, you have it easy! I'm going to be stuck with That-Prat-Draco-Fucking-Malfoy."

Malfoy began to pout, and Harry started to snog him. Needless to say,Draco wasn't pouting any longer.

"Will you guys _PLEASE_ not do that in our common room!" Ron screamed as he walked in on Draco and Harry.

Harry leapt back, but Draco pulled him back down, so that he was on his lap.

"GAAA! I can't take it 'Mione! I just can't! They always _do_ that!"

Hermione laughed, "Oh, come on Ron! You have to admit, it is pretty sexy!"

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at Hermione.

"What?" she asked, "I'm just telling the truth..." she turned bright red, and grabbed Ron, dragging him out of the room with her.

Everyone burst out laughing at Hermione's embarrassment.

Harry and Draco didn't notice; they were too busy snogging.

* * *

"Harry, the headmaster wishes to speak to you!" McGonagall said, coming into the Gryffindor common room (deducting points because of Harry and Draco's snog-fest on the couch). 

Harry nodded, and kissed Draco good bye.

* * *

"You wanted to talk to me, sir?" Harry asked. 

"Harry, do you remember any of what happened when you were in the shadow world? Mr. Malfoy says that Mr. Zabini killed you, and yet, here you are."

Harry nodded, chuckling slightly. "Blaise, he got to me before Draco did, and so I created a holograph, so that Blaise would think I was still beside him, while I watched Draco and him fight. When I saw him almost kill Draco, I got scared and was about to kill him then, but then he walked over and 'killed' me. That's when I walked out and cast the killing curse," Harry said, relaying the story. The events were beginning to get fuzzy in his mind. Dumbledore said that was what was supposed to happen. Harry had been alive when he went to the Umbra World, and you aren't supposed to be there while you are alive, therefore, it was natural that he would forget how it looked and details like that until it was his time to actually visit there.

"Harry... I don't think I need to tell you this, but you need to make Draco a vampire as well... otherwise I think the curse may begin to take hold of you again. The kiss cured you for a while, but Draco needs to be a vampire," Dumbledore said, staring at Harry seriously.

Harry nodded. "I know... I-I'll talk to him about it..."

"I think that would be wise. Good day, Harry," Dumbledore said. Harry stood, getting ready to leave, when Dumbledore held out a dish with lemon drops on it, "Oh, I almost forgot, my mind isn't what it used to be, you know." Dumbledore laughed, "Lemon Drop?"

Harry chuckled, "no thank you... I have to talk to Draco."

Dumbledore nodded, "Of course. Good luck."

"Uh-huh," Harry said absently, walking out of the office.

* * *

"Draco?" Harry asked. 

"Yeah? Hey, what'd the old coot want to talk to you about? Are you okay?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, of course I'm okay, I just... um... I wanted to talk to you on your views of being a vampire. Would it bother you to be... you know... sorta like me?"

Draco blinked once. Twice. "Run that by me again?"

Harry sighed. "Would it bother you if you were a vampire... you know... If I was to turn you into one..."

Draco chuckled slightly, but the sound died in his throat.

"Um... I-I never really thought about it..." Draco said, "Why do you ask?"

Harry thought up of the truthful answer to that question _Because I'll die if you don't_... but he kept it to himself. "I was just wondering... it's just tradition..."

It was a little more than tradition. Every vampire _had_ to turn their mate, otherwise they got sick, very sick, and had to drink more blood... blood which could only be supplied by their mates, and that would kill the mate. Too much blood would be drained from them. Plus, Harry had to fear not only for his mate's life, but for his own. After all, if he died, who would stand up to Voldemort? He had a profecy to fulfill, and a mate to protect.

Harry sighed.

"Never mind. Forget I asked."

* * *

**A/N: Yay! I told you I'd update! Thank you all who reviewed! **

**Thank you _Natasha AKA Tash_ and _Aline Potter _for the compliments! I'm glad you like the story!**

**And to all people who have reviewed so far:  
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I HAVE ALMOST SEVENTY REVIEWS! THAT'S TEN IN ONE CHAPTER! WOOHOO! I LOVE YOU ALL! I THINK I WILL SET UP ASHRINE IN MY ROOM IN YOUR HONOR!**


	17. Welcome to Eternity

"Hey, 'Mione?" Harry asked quietly.

"Yeah Harry? What's up? You don't look too good... what did Malfoy do?"

Harry laughed, "Nothing Hermione! But it's funny you should mention him..."

Hermione looked on with patience, "Harry, what's wrong?" she asked gently.

"Well... you see... I just came back from a meeting with Dumbledore and... um... you remember the whole Umbra world and the killing curse and all of that...?"

"Yes..."

"Well... it seems as though finding Draco as my mate, and then kissing him helped me recover, but only for a while... I'll go into a sort of relapse if I don't turn Draco, and I'll be a threat to Draco, too if he doesn't become a vampire..."

"So what's the problem, Harry?" Hermione, of course, had already figured out what the problem was; she just wanted to hear Harry say it out loud. He was a bright guy, it was just sometimes, to find the answer to something, you need to fully understand the question, and Harry couldn't always grasp the question.

"He doesn't want me to turn him..."

"Are you sure? Did you ask him?"

"Yeah..." Harry said, looking at his feet like a little kid would after an adult asked if they had taken a cookie and the kid would say no, when, in fact, they had taken two.

"Harry..." Hermione prompted, sounding very much like a mother.

"Well... I asked how he would feel about being a vampire."

"Ah. Well that's different than asking if you could turn him. I bet you didn't say why he needed to be a vampire either, did you?"

"Well, not exactly, no..."

Hermione gave Harry a pointed look, and said "Well, I suggest you inform him, huh? Maybe you could convince him. If the threat of you dying doesn't do the trick, the threat of him dying certainly will... he's too vain to let his precious self be marred by death..."

Harry didn't laugh, but hugged Hermione and said "Thanks 'Mione. I knew you'd know what to do," and then dashed off to find Draco.

Hermione stared at Harry's retreating figure with a mixture of sadness and pride. The boy had been through so much, and yet still behaved almost like a child... he fascinated Hermione in a way she couldn't describe. Some people fascinated Hermione with their shear stupidity, or their utter brilliance. Other's caught Hermione's eye because they were unnaturally good in one subject, or with a certain spell. Harry, however, confused Hermione. The boy had had no childhood that she could discern, because he had been forced to do chores for his pig of an uncle for all his life, and it seemed as though the child that never had the chance to be noticed, would come out at random times. People rarely noticed, but when Harry was frustrated, he would stomp his feet in irritation, and when he was hungry for a snack, he always wanted something sweet. His attitude towards life was very unlike everyone else's views. All the witches and wizards in Harry's year had seen the bad in the world, and recognized it, and were therefore unwilling to see the good in someone until that good was blatantly on display. Harry had been through more than anyone else, and he still saw good in everyone unless they proved to him that they were downright evil.

Yes, Harry was one of the few things that always confused Hermione. You couldn't pick up a book and read about why Harry acted the way he did, or why he thought the way he thought. You could look up his family tree, or all of his accomplishments, but one would never figure out why he constantly tugged on the same strand of hair when he couldn't figure out a problem, or why when he was sad, every third footstep he took would be louder than the others.

Hermione figured she was the only person to notice these subtleties about Harry, but she was wrong. One other person had also noticed his oddities, and other things that Hermione would never notice about Harry. One Draco Malfoy was also fascinated with Harry Potter, for the same reasons Hermione was, and many many others.

* * *

"Draco?" Harry called into the dorm room where he had left Draco to go search for Hermione. 

"Yeah?"

"Um... you know how I asked you how you would feel about becoming a vampire?"

"Yeah..."

"Well... there _was_ a reason for that question..." Harry said.

"Yeah, I know, it's because of vampire tradition, right? Isn't that what you said?" Draco asked.

"Well... yeah... but it's a bit more than tradition... you see... we might... die... if I don't turn you..." Harry exhaled the breath he had been holding, and looked down at his feet.

Draco's answer shocked Harry, "I know."

"You know?" Harry repeated.

Draco nodded his head.

"Then why didn't you let me turn you when I asked the first time? If you knew you could die... or that I could die, why didn't you just let me turn you?"

Draco pondered the question for a bit before responding, "Because you needed to tell me. I can't trust you if you never prove to me that there's some reason for me to believe you will do the right thing. I mean, yes, you have faced Voldemort, and yes, you have saved your life, and that of your friends, but that's what the immediate circumstances called for. When under pressure, the mind and heart usually work together to do what is eventually right, but when given time to think about something, the mind and heart tend to separate, one saying one thing, the other something else. I needed to know that I could trust you to tell me, and to trust that you would trust _me_ with the news that we could lose our lives."

Harry nodded in understanding, "Draco... will you let me turn you into a vampire?"

It sounded almost like a marriage proposal to the two Hogwarts students, and in a way, it was.

"Of course," Draco answered, and Harry quickly sunk his fangs into Draco's neck.

* * *

It had been a few weeks since Draco had been turned into a vampire, and both he and Harry had only recently gotten over the side effects. For Draco, he had to get used to his suddenly very honed senses and telepathy, while Harry had to cope with having a bond. 

A vampire can only create one other vampire, and that other vampire is their mate. Once the vampire has been created, they can't be turned back, and a bond is formed between the original vampire, and the new one. The old vampire, because they have never had a bond before, has to cope with feeling what the other is feeling, and has to train himself to leave the new vampire's side. The bond is very strong, and makes it hard for the older vampire to leave the younger one's side, but it can be done. Harry had gotten to the stage where he could be away from Draco for roughly five hours, before having to see his mate again.

At the moment, Draco was looking for his mate, seeing as he was hungry, and only his mate's blood could satisfy him.

He found Harry out by the lake, painting.

"I didn't know you were artistic..." Draco commented.

"Well, I suppose now you know," responded Harry, concentrating more on the painting than he was on the conversation.

Draco gave a helpless sigh.

"There's so much I don't know about you, and that you don't know about me. There are too many things to do together, and far too many threats. Voldemort and Death Eaters, to name a few," Draco said, a tint of hopelessness in his voice.

Harry turned away from his painting to stare at the blond vampire who was looking out across the lake at nothing in particular. The black haired vampire put a hand on Draco's cheek and slowly turned Draco's head until the two were looking at on other. Harry planted a soft kiss on Draco's lips.

"You know, we have eternity to worry about these things," he said, kissing Draco's lips.

"An eternity..." Draco echoed.

"Yeah," Harry kissed him again.

"You know, an eternity doesn't sound like a very long time..."

"Oh believe me, it is... but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy every second of it..." Harry answered, kissing Draco again.

"And how do you propose we do that?" Draco teased, kissing Harry back.

"Oh... I can think of a few things..." was the reply.

Both boys laughed, racing each other towards the castle. They moved almost too quickly for the human eye to see, just one blur of color, seeming to run faster than light itself.

* * *

Two boys were lying side by side on the bed in one of the dorm rooms, tucked snuggly under a huge comforter. The blond one rolled over, cuddling up into the dark haired one's side and mumbled, "I could get used to this..." before dozing back into an even deeper sleep. 

The other boy was awake and stroked the blonde's hair for a while before whispering back, "Welcome to eternity Draco."

He then planted a kiss on top of Draco's head, and fell asleep himself.

&**THE END**&

* * *

**A/N: THE END! Woohoo! I finished a story! I might make a sequel, but maybe not. What do you think? Should I do a sequel, or leave it at this? Thank you everyone who reviewed! You people are great! I'm so happy! I _never_ finish stories, I usually end up giving up on them long before I finish, so I'm totally psyched that I finished this! YAY! Thank you again everyone who reviewed! You helped me finish my story! Please review this chapter and tell me whether there should be a sequel or not, and whether you liked my story! I will love you forever! Thank you!**

**(YES! I FINISHED! I'M SO HAPPY! THANK YOU REVIEWERS!)**

**P.S. I'm trying to get 100 reviews, so if you could pretty pretty please review, I would love it! I only need five more at the moment, so yeah... thank you!**


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